Church Of St Bartholomew

Church of St. Bartholomew

A parish church dating from the 12th century with substantial 14th and 15th-century additions, extensively restored in 1857. Built of ashlar with some coursed rubble, the church comprises a nave, chancel, north aisle and chapel, south porch, and tower, arranged around a single ridge. The entire structure is buttressed and set upon a moulded plinth with a string course running over.

The tower is angle-buttressed at its base and rises through two stages. The west wall displays a 15th-century arched three-light window with panel tracery, topped by a hoodmould and supported by a string course below. The bell chamber contains four 15th-century two-light arched openings, each with panel tracery, cusping, hoodmould and label stops. The tower is embattled with eight crocketed pinnacles, and guttering beneath carries two gargoyles to each side. Two 20th-century clock faces are positioned below the south and east bell chamber openings. The south wall has a single small rectangular light, and three similar openings appear to the west.

The north aisle is angle-buttressed and embattled. Its west wall contains a single window with two arched lights under a flat head. The north wall features a chamfered arched doorway and four windows, each of three lights under a flat head; the three easternmost sit in smaller openings and were probably once arched. The angle-buttressed east wall contains a single window of five arched lights under a flat head, with a crocketed pinnacle at the angle.

The east chancel wall displays a large restored 14th-century arched five-light window with elaborate and fine curvilinear tracery with cusping. Above the window is a hoodmould with label stops. To the right, above the string course, sits a niche with cusped ogee arch, topped by a hoodmould with label stops and crocketed finial. The parapet has corner crocketed pinnacles.

The south wall is embattled with six crocketed pinnacles and features guttering with small gargoyles. The south chancel contains two restored 14th-century arched three-light windows with fine curvilinear tracery, cusping, hoodmoulds and label stops. At the centre is an arched doorway with open cusped tracery beneath the arch, decorated with two foliate carved orbs, and topped with a hoodmould and label stops.

The south nave contains two restored 14th-century arched three-light windows with tracery, cusping, hoodmoulds and label stops. The buttressed and embattled south porch has crocketed pinnacles at the angles, with single similar pinnacles on the east and west walls. A double-chamfered arch with moulded imposts and hoodmould with label stops surmounts the entrance. The interior roof of stone is supported on transverse arches, and the inner doorway, originally taller, narrower and arched, now has a flat head with a late 15th-century wooden door featuring blind tracery.

Interior

A three-bay arcade with octagonal piers and plain moulded capitals separates the nave from the aisle. The arches are double-chamfered, with responds of corresponding design. A double-chamfered tower arch has its inner arch supported on corbels. The restored 12th-century moulded chancel arch is supported on either side by two engaged shafts with scalloped capitals.

Between the north aisle and north chapel is a section of chamfered arch, supported to the north by a single capital upon a corbel. The chancel and north chapel are separated by a three-bay arcade of octagonal columns with plain moulded capitals supporting double-chamfered arches.

In the south chancel wall stands a tripartite sedilia and piscina, each with an arch above. The east wall contains a small corbel for a statue. The south wall of the north chapel features an arched niche; the north wall holds a horizontal rectangular niche and a 14th-century tomb recess under a cusped and sub-cusped ogee arch with hoodmould, label stops and finial. Rising from the stops are single shafts with foliate-decorated finials.

The easternmost arcade bay of the chancel contains an early 16th-century screen. Similarly designed later screens appear under the tower arch between the north aisle and north chapel, and in the westernmost bay of the chancel arcade.

The church contains several late 15th-century pews with blind tracery and poppy heads, two early 17th-century carved oak benches in the chancel and a carved chair, a 15th-century oak almsbox and heavy 15th-century oak chest in the nave, both with ironwork. The font and pulpit are 19th-century additions.

Monuments include pieces to John D'Arcy Clark (1838) and George Clark (1842), both featuring swags on the apron and urns on the crown, and a monument by J. H. Worth of Retford in the south chancel wall. The tower houses a hatchment donated by Sir Kay Ed. Cookson in 1799 and an alms board.