Church Of St Bartholomew

The Church of St. Bartholomew is a parish church with origins in the Saxon period, incorporating elements from the 12th and 13th centuries. The chancel was rebuilt in the 18th century (c.1725), followed by a substantial rebuilding in 1840 by John Green for the Rev. Goodenough. Further alterations occurred in 1871 when F.R. Wilson extended and gothicized the chancel, and a vestry was added in 1906.

The church is constructed of squared stone and ashlar, with a Welsh slate roof, and the south porch has a stone slate roof. It comprises a west tower, a three-bay nave with aisles, a south porch, transepts, a chancel, and a north vestry. The lower stage of the tower and the west end of the nave display Saxon fabric, evidenced by long-and-short quoins. The upper part of the tower was demolished in 1840 and replaced with a battlemented Early English style. Lower parts of the aisle walls incorporate 12th or 13th century masonry. A 14th-century window with cusped tracery is located in the west end of the south aisle. One north aisle window, with intersecting tracery, is partially original from the 14th century, while other windows are in a style typical of 1840.

The south porch features a pointed arch on plain imposts, and a 18th-century sundial is situated on the gable. The interior of the porch has a pointed tunnel vault with two chamfered transverse ribs. The transepts retain some 13th-century masonry in the lower courses, largely rebuilt in 1840, but a single original window with intersecting tracery in the north transept now opens into the vestry. The three-bay chancel displays Geometric tracery.

Inside, a round-headed Saxon tower arch with unmoulded imposts is prominent. A partially blocked arch, likely from the 11th century, is visible in the northeast corner of the nave. The south arcade is 13th-century, featuring octagonal piers with moulded capitals, double-chamfered pointed arches with dripstones rising from discs with rosettes. The eastern pier exhibits dogtooth decoration at the springing of the arch, while the western pier displays broaches, and the responds have leafy carving. The north arcade is a 1840 replacement of the original 12th-century arcade and is an exact copy of the south arcade. The chancel arch has 13th-century responds and an arch dating from 1871. A doorway into the vestry is likely a repurposed priest’s door with a four-centred head and continuous chamfer. A 13th or 14th-century piscina is found in the south transept. Altar rails, choir stalls, and a pulpit are by Hicks and Charleswood, probably dating from 1906. The east window has unsigned glass from 1880. Six hatchments commemorate members of the Ravensworth family. A marble wall monument by Craigs, located in the north transept, is dedicated to Reginald Goodenough, who died at Sebastopol, and includes military emblems above the inscription.