St John the Baptist's Church, Tunstall

A church at Tunstall is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, but the oldest structure in the present church dates from the 13th century. The church was rebuilt around 1415 by Sir Thomas Tunstal. Alterations were made to the church in the 16th century. In the 1820s it was attended by the Brontë sisters during the time they were receiving education at the Clergy Daughters' School at nearby Cowan Bridge.

Internally the responds of the north arcade have early 13th-century capitals and the west lancet windows of the north aisle are probably also from this century. At the east end of the south aisle is a chapel known as the Chapel of the Holy Trinity. In the chapel is a mutilated effigy which is said to be of Sir Thomas Tunstal. The church also owns a 16th-century painting by Francesco Montemezzano. It was probably donated to the church in the early 19th century by Frederick Needham (the church's vicar from 1810 to 1816), who was a half-brother of the church's patron, Richard Toulmin North of Thurland Castle. The painting was removed for restoration in connection with a BBC television…