The Parish of Great with Little and Steeple Gidding

St John's Chapel of Ease

St John's Church, in the village of Little Gidding, is dedicated to St John the Evangelist and is a Grade I listed building.

The earliest known building on the site was medieval, with associations to the Knights Templar,  but by 1625 it was in a neglected state and used as a barn.  That year it was repaired and restored to its proper use by Nicholas Ferrar, as part of the foundation of a religious community.  Mrs Ferrar donated the brass font c.1625 and the 15th-century brass lectern with eagle desk, whilst the current cedar communion table also dates from about that time.

The church was greatly damaged by Cromwellian soldiers in 1646, when they destroyed the organ and threw the eagle lectern (later retrieved) into the wood.

That church was then rebuilt in 1714, having a nave 8 feet shorter than its predecessor. It was, in turn, restored and altered in 1853.

With a nave of  approximately 14 feet in width and 33 feet in length, fewer than 30 people can be accommodated in the stalls lining the nave wall.

St John’s is celebrated as the founding place of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd and also has links with George Herbert.