Church Of St Bartholomew

Church of St Bartholomew

The Church of St Bartholomew is a parish church in Ingoldsby, built over several centuries from the 12th century through to around 1700, with 19th-century alterations. It is constructed in ashlar and dressed, coursed limestone rubble with slate and lead roofs.

The church comprises a west tower, nave with clerestory, two aisles, south porch, and chancel with south porch.

The tower dates to the 16th century and is of ashlar construction, rather squat with three stages. It has a moulded plinth, two string courses, and a battlemented parapet with corner crocketed pinnacles above stepped clasping buttresses. A 17th-century three-light cross-mullioned window sits in the west face. The belfry openings on each face are two-light, dating to the 16th century, with four-centred heads and hood moulds.

The north aisle is constructed in coursed limestone rubble with a slate roof and stone-coped gables. It has two bays marked by three added stepped buttresses. In the western bay is a 15th-century north doorway with a deeply splayed hood mould, the door featuring an ogee panel with carved tracery. The west, south and east aisle windows are all 16th-century three-light designs with flat heads under hood moulds with label stops. The north clerestory is plain and blank, with a cornice and parapet with saddleback coping that conceals the lead roof.

The chancel is constructed in dressed rubble with stone-coped gables and a slate roof, with one side buttress at the east end. It has been shortened and largely rebuilt in the 19th century, with all windows reset. Two windows on the north side both have hood moulds and label stops. The eastern window is 15th-century, tall with three lights and panelled tracery with a triangular head. The other is 14th-century with two lights and curvilinear tracery. The 15th-century east window is set high up, has three lights with unusual curvilinear tracery, a curved triangular head with hood mould and curious sickle terminals. An 18th-century tablet is set in the wall.

The south side of the chancel is in coursed limestone rubble with a string course at sill level. A small priests porch in ashlar has been added in the 19th century, featuring a steeply pointed gable with kneelers and a sharply pointed four-centred arch. To the east of the porch is a 14th-century two-light window and to the west a 15th-century three-light window, both matching their equivalents on the north side of the chancel.

The south aisle is in coursed limestone rubble with a lead roof behind a plain parapet with cornice and saddleback coping. The east window, which has been cut by a later shallower roof pitch, is a late 13th-century three-light window with Y tracery and a shallow hood mould with tiny human mask stops. The south window is 15th-century with three lights and a triangular head.

The 16th-century south porch has a roll-moulded plinth and a string course, with a blocked triangular-headed east window. The plain moulded parapet conceals a lead roof, which is drained by a defaced gargoyle with a ruff. The porch opening has been recut in the 19th century. The south door is 15th-century with a hood mould above having shield label stops, and the door features 15th-century ogee decoration and a wicket with an ogee head. The south clerestory has a plain parapet and three two-light 16th-century windows with hood moulds under a continuous cornice.

Interior

The three-bay north arcade is late 12th-century with double-chamfered semi-circular arches on semi-circular piers with circular bases on square blocks. The western respond and pier have stiff-leaf capitals, while the eastern respond and pier have waterleaf capitals. The three-bay south arcade dates to around 1700 with double-splay pointed arches with Doric capitals and cylindrical piers on cushion bases. The tower, which is embraced by the aisles, has three tower arches of similar design to the south arcade. The chancel arch has also been recut at that time. The tower arch opening has graffiti dated 1705.

In the south aisle is a 15th-century tomb recess with damaged cusped decoration and a trefoil-headed piscina. In the chancel is a 15th-century tomb recess and a blocked opening which shows that the chancel has been shortened.

The nave roof dates to the 16th century and features large tie beams and braces to corbels.

The pulpit and altar rails are 20th-century. In the chancel are two fine 16th-century chairs. The octagonal font is 15th-century with shields in cusped panels and a stem with traceried designs. In the south aisle east window are 14th-century glass fragments reset and dated "JH 1801 CW".