Church Of St Bartholomew

Church of St Bartholomew

This parish church dates from the 13th to 15th centuries, with extensive restoration undertaken in 1876-8. It is built of coursed sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings, featuring tiled roofs and lead roofs to the aisles.

The church comprises a four-bay arcaded and aisled nave separated from the chancel by a central tower. A north chapel and 19th-century vestry are attached to the chancel, and a south porch projects from the nave.

The nave's west window is a fine 15th-century example with four lights and a transom set within a two-centred head with label and stops. The 13th-century west doorway has a two-centred double-chamfered arch. Small lancets light the west ends of the south aisle and north aisle, while four lancets illuminate each side of the clerestory. The north aisle contains three 14th-century windows, each with two cinquefoil-headed lights beneath two-centred arches. The south aisle's east window is a 15th-century design with three trefoil-headed lights under a two-centred head with label. East of the south porch is a restored three-light window with intersecting tracery, and to its west is a two-light cinquefoiled window matching those in the north aisle.

The central tower is a late 15th-century structure of dressed sandstone, comprising three stages crowned by a crenellated parapet. It is embellished with two waterspouts on its north and south faces, angle buttresses to the east corners, and a bell-chamber featuring two-light openings with trefoiled heads on each face. The second stage has a small trefoiled light on each face, while the first stage carries trefoil-headed lights to north and south, each beneath a label with Tudor arch profile. The ground floor has a cambered moulded label above two cinquefoil-headed lights.

The late 19th-century vestry is appointed with a central rear stack, two trefoiled lights, and a shouldered entrance. The north chapel's heavily restored north wall contains a central buttress and a restored cinquefoiled two-light window to the west. Its east window and general massing form a matching pair with the chancel when viewed from the east: both feature two late 13th-century matching three-light windows with two-centred arches and labels, separated by a central buttress and flanked by outer buttresses on either side. Stone crosses surmount the east apices of both the chancel and north chapel roofs.

The chancel's south wall displays a large 15th-century window with three trefoil-headed lights. To its left is a two-light late 13th or early 14th-century trefoiled window positioned above an early 18th-century priests' door, which is fitted with a segmental pediment, moulded architrave, and scrolled brackets.

The south porch is an early 14th-century structure featuring trefoiled ogee-headed openings in both west and east walls, a moulded entrance arch, and angle buttresses. Its roof trusses are a late 19th-century replacement. The south door is set within a two-centred arch with fillet mouldings.

Interior

The nave and chancel roofs are 19th-century work: the nave has a crown-post roof, while the chancel is fitted with a wagon roof. The chancel arch and west tower arch are both two-centred with two moulded orders and concave chamfers.

The chancel contains circa 1700 communion rails with turned balusters. Its most remarkable feature is the exquisite mid-14th-century altar tomb and effigy of Blanche Mortimer, wife of Sir Peter Grandison, which displays a canted chest and coved canopy with drapery spilling over the cinquefoiled panels of the chest. The north chapel is separated from the chancel by a cylindrical column and iron railings with curtains. Two chest tombs with effigies are present: one dating to circa 1400 and the other commemorating Sir John Kyrle, who died in 1650. Several 19th-century marble wall monuments are also displayed. The stained glass, executed by C E Kempe in the chancel and north chapel between circa 1877-89, is of considerable artistic merit.

The nave is lined with 13th-century circular piers supporting chamfered arches. The capitals are richly carved, featuring foliage and heads in various designs. The south wall of the south aisle contains a 13th-century piscina with three pointed arches and a square drain. The font is 13th-century work with a tapering bowl surrounded by three raised bands, its form derived from a wooden band-reinforced tub font. A 14th-century oak effigy of a bearded man is positioned in the north arcade.