Church Of St Bartholomew

The Church of St Bartholomew is an Anglican church built between 1883 and 1886 to designs by John Loughborough Pearson. Constructed of red sandstone with a red tiled roof and ridge crest, it features an ashlar interior and exemplifies the early Decorated Gothic style.

Plan and Structure

The church comprises a nave with a north-west porch, a chancel with a crossing tower and broach spire positioned over the choir, a vestry on the south side, and a stair turret at the south-west angle between the nave and vestry.

Exterior

The three-bay nave has a stringcourse above its base, a sill course, and a continuous hoodmould above the windows, finished with an eaves cornice. Most windows feature early Decorated tracery. Three-light windows and short buttresses mark the north and south sides. The west elevation displays gableted angle buttresses and a tall three-light west window with a roundel above containing a sexfoil. The window head is flanked by two gableted blind windows with simple tracery, and a floriated cross finial crowns the ridge.

The north-west gabled porch has angle buttresses with octagonal pinnacles. Its side returns are lit by paired quatrefoils with leaded glazing. The entrance consists of two orders with a niche above containing a carved statue of St Bartholomew (added in 1988). The arched inner entrance features dog-tooth moulding and a dedication inscription reading: "TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH HEGAN OF DAWPOOL THIS CHURCH IS DEDICATED BY HIS DAUGHTERS 1885". The studded oak door has large decorative strap hinges and a square-panelled reverse face.

The short two-bay sanctuary has a higher roof, gableted set-back buttresses, a stringcourse above the base, and a sill band. Its gable features gableted kneelers and a floriated cross finial, with a roundel containing a trefoil at the apex. A large five-light east window with paired sexfoils and a quatrefoil traceried head is flanked by blind lancets and colonnettes. Blind arcades on the north and south sides of the sanctuary incorporate two traceried stained glass lancets.

The tower rises above the choir with stringcourses and gableted buttresses. A tall three-light window on the north side has paired quatrefoils and a trefoil traceried head. The belfry stage features louvred Y-tracery windows and a dentil cornice, topped by a broach spire with louvred lucarnes and a parapet incorporating corner spirelets.

The gabled vestry and organ loft on the south side beneath the tower resembles a shallow transept, with short gableted buttresses and a lozenge-shaped ridge stack. Paired lancet windows with cusped heads sit below a roundel containing three trefoils. A raised arched doorway with keel-moulded jambs and a studded oak door with decorative strap hinges is reached by pale sandstone steps with a red sandstone relief wall. An extension to the east has a swept catslide roof, with three small cusped lights containing pale stained glass on the east return.

The south-west stair turret occupies the angle between nave and vestry, topped by a conical stone roof. Its raised doorway has a shouldered head and a studded oak door with decorative strap hinges, accessed by pale sandstone steps.

Interior

The interior is finished in ashlar and displays numerous wall-mounted memorials. Quadripartite vaulting is supported by corbelled wall shafts springing from stringcourse level; the chancel vaulting incorporates dog-tooth moulding. The interior height progressively increases from nave through choir to sanctuary. Transverse arches separate the choir and sanctuary; the choir arch contains a stone chancel screen.

Nave: The central aisle and east and west ends have geometric patterned tiled flooring, while side seating areas are parquet. On the north wall to the left (west) of the north entrance hangs a dole cupboard dated 1723 with a carved inscription: "A.D.1732 Mary Ainsdale, late of Irby Mill Hill, left £5 to the poor of the Parish. The interest thereof to be given to them in bread yearly on the Sacrament Days for ever. S Mason CW".

Below the west window stands an octagonal font constructed of Mexican onyx, supported by eight Blue John shafts with onyx capitals and bases on a stepped marble base of three different marble types. An alabaster pulpit stands to the left (north) side of the choir arch, featuring pierced quatrefoil latticework panels, green marble shafts, and a St Anne marble base and steps. The chancel step is also of St Anne marble.

The choir arch's stone chancel screen has slender shafts supporting tripartite, trefoil-traceried, cusped arched openings; the central opening is wider than the outer divisions. The screen's outer divisions spring from a low chancel wall fitted with ornate, part-gilded wrought-iron gates.

Choir: The floor around the choir stalls features geometric patterned tiles with an encaustic tile border. On the south side stands an organ case from 1905 designed by Richard Norman Shaw in memory of Thomas Henry Ismay, with ornate gilded and painted side panels by Robert Christie. It houses a Willis organ with tin pipes. A panelled door to the left (east) of the organ leads to a small vestry and organ loft. A circular bell opening with a cover incorporating a spy-hole sits at the centre of the choir's vaulted ceiling. The sanctuary step is of St Anne marble.

Sanctuary: The two narrow bays have a marble and encaustic tiled floor incorporating a stepped altar platform (tiles probably by Godwin of Hereford). An elaborate alabaster relief reredos below the east window depicts the resurrection and incorporates angels in niches. Stepped sedilia on the south wall feature an early Decorated arcade with dog-tooth moulding and an integral credence shelf.

Stained Glass: Several windows are by Clayton & Bell, including the west window depicting the childhood of Christ and the east window showing the Ascension. A later window on the south side of the nave opposite the north entrance depicts St Bartholomew, paid for by parishioners in memory of Reverend John Dodd, Rector from 1922 to 1934.

Vestry: The floor is laid in herringbone and square-basket pattern parquet. The eastern end has a vaulted ceiling, while a timber choir loft forms the ceiling over the western half.

Tower: The stair turret contains a stone spiral stair leading to the bell-ringing chamber, which houses the original clock and pulley mechanism in timber cases, a spy-hole with later cover, and ladder access to the bell chamber above. Five original bells remain, with a sixth "Jubilee Bell" installed in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. A metal gantry and ladder provide access to the spire parapet.

Subsidiary Features

A lych gate stands at the north corner of the churchyard, constructed in 1900 to designs by Richard Norman Shaw in memory of Thomas Henry Ismay. It is timber-framed with red sandstone ashlar to the lower part of the side walls, incorporating bench seating. Three unglazed lights in the timber upper part of the side walls have Decorated-style traceried heads. Low timber gates at the north entrance feature early Decorated panels in the lower part. The gableted red tiled roof has decorative timber bargeboards and carved central pendants, with a crown post roof structure. A dedication inscription on the north face of the central tie beam reads: "TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF THOMAS HENRY ISMAY, ERECTED BY MARGARET ISMAY, NOVEMBER 1900".

An attached low churchyard wall is constructed of red sandstone re-used from the previous 1824 church. It has raised triangular copings, partly stepped on the eastern side, and incorporates a small decorative wrought-iron gate on the western side of the churchyard and a small timber gate with early Decorated panels (matching the lych gate style) on the eastern side.

History

The present Church of St Bartholomew replaced an earlier church constructed in 1824, which was largely demolished around 1885-7 due to ivy encroachment. That church's tower still stands within the graveyard as a Grade II listed structure. The 1824 church had itself replaced an earlier Anglo-Saxon church demolished in 1820. Stone from the 1824 church was used to build the wall around the present churchyard.

In 1871 it was proposed that the second church be replaced. Mrs Grace Ellen Kennard and Mrs Agnes Kennard, daughters of the late Joseph Hegan of nearby Dawpool, provided £4,500 for a new church in their father's memory. Thomas Henry Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line and the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, and subsequent owner of Dawpool (which he demolished in favour of a new house by Richard Norman Shaw), also provided substantial funding.

John Loughborough Pearson (1817-1897) was commissioned to design the church in 1883. The completed building was consecrated on 7 January 1886 by the Right Reverend Dr William Stubbs, Bishop of Chester. Richard Norman Shaw designed a lych gate erected north of the church in 1900 in Thomas Henry Ismay's memory.

John Loughborough Pearson trained under Ignatius Bonomi and worked as an assistant to Anthony Salvin and Philip Hardwick before establishing his own practice in 1843, specialising in church design and restoration (though he also designed secular buildings including numerous houses). During his career he served as architect to several cathedrals including Lincoln, Bristol, Canterbury, Chichester, Exeter, Gloucester, Peterborough, Rochester, and Westminster Abbey. He designed Truro Cathedral in 1878-9. Pearson became a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1860, received the RIBA gold medal in 1880, and became a Royal Academician the same year.