The Buildings of St John's

It's easy to take fixtures for granted. St John's Church, the tallest building and the only spire for miles around, has been gracing the northeastern end of the Esplanade in Weymouth for all of your lifetime; it was there when your parents were born, and has withstood all the gales blown its way for as long as your grandparents can remember. It hasn't always been there though, and certainly not since the fourteenth century when Decorated Gothic was the prevailing architectural style; the foundation stone was laid in 1850 during the Victorian Gothic revival. Less than a generation before it was built there stood on the western slope of Greenhill the town's old Tyburn Tree, the three-sided gibbet which served as a warning and a reminder of the harsh justice awaiting offenders.