The Church of St John the Evangelist Wotton Surrey +

The Beyondness of Other Things

Some buildings look like they have been there forever. The Church of St John the Evangelist in Wotton, a few kilometres from Dorking, is as case in point. Its yellowy pastel stone walls and pale grey slate roofs merge with the yellowy pastel fields and pale grey trees. The church practically has been around since the beginning of time, or at least for one millennium. This Grade I piece of ecclesiastical architecture is likely of Saxon origin (nave wall and tower) with Norman additions (chancel, north chapel, north transept and nave), a 17th century part (mortuary chapel) and completing elements dating from two centuries later (south porch and vestry). It was the estate church of the Evelyn family who owned nearby Wotton House. After admiring this spirit lifting church and daffodil’d setting, spirits can be lifted in a more material way at the Wotton Hatch Pub and Restaurant on the other side of the Dorking to Guildford road.