Church Of St Bartholomew

Church of St Bartholomew

Parish church, now redundant. Dating from the 12th century with extensions in the early 14th and early 15th centuries, and restored in the late 19th century. Built of random rubble with some ashlar dressings and tile roofs. The structure comprises a 12th-century nave and chancel, a 14th-century south aisle and north chapel, and a 15th-century south porch.

The south aisle contains three bays divided by stepped buttresses with angle buttresses at the corner. The central window features a pair of lancets; the east bay has two cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the head and two-centred arch. The west bay contains the south door with a two-centred arch and moulded stone jambs. The early 15th-century stone south porch has a two-centred arch of two chamfered orders with chamfered imposts. Side windows each have two trefoiled lights under a square head. The west window of the aisle is a pair of lancets, while the east window has three cinquefoiled lights with tracery in the head under a two-centred arch; the jambs, arch and mullions are decorated with ball flower ornament.

The nave is 12th-century with a west wall rebuilt in the late 14th century featuring a window of four trefoiled lights with tracery in the head under a two-centred arch. The north wall has two 19th-century buttresses at the west end and two small 12th-century semi-circular headed windows, the western one partially hidden by a buttress.

The north chapel, dating from the early 14th century, has a north window of four trefoiled lights with star-shaped tracery in the head under a two-centred arch with moulded label and shafts to the jambs. The east window contains three trefoiled lights with tracery under a square head, and the west window has three ogee trefoiled lights under a square head.

The chancel is 12th-century with early 14th-century windows. The south wall has two bays: the west features a window of two ogee trefoiled lights under a square head, and the east has two ogee trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the two-centred head. A 14th-century priest's door between them has a two-centred head and label. Below the eastern window is a two-light stone mullioned window, and the two-centred head of a doorway to a vault, possibly dating to the 16th or 17th century. The east window has four trefoiled lights with flowing tracery in a two-centred head with label.

Interior features include a 14th-century south arcade of three bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders, piers and responds of the same section, and square moulded imposts with ball flower ornament. The north arcade to the chapel has two bays with two-centred arches of two sunk-chamfered orders, piers and responds of similar section with moulded and embattled imposts. The chancel arch has responds and a two-centred arch of two sunk-chamfered orders with moulded and embattled imposts, partly cut away for the rood loft.

In the south wall of the south aisle at the east end is a piscina with a cinquefoiled head and projecting bowl cut back flush with the wall. Adjacent to it is a locker with a rebate for a shelf. In the north chapel beneath the north window is the east side of a large tomb recess with moulded jambs and cusped arch with crockets, largely hidden by an early 18th-century pew.

The chancel roof, probably 17th-century, spans three bays and features moulded tie beams and diagonal struts to collars, with wall posts below that are pendant with moulded terminals. The nave roof, probably 17th-century, spans seven bays with a collar supported by two vertical struts with diagonal bracing and a king post on the collar. The north chapel roof is 14th-century with common rafters, collars, straight arch braces and ashlar pieces to each rafter couple. The south aisle is ceiled with three raking wooden struts bearing massive wooden screw threads spanning the aisle to support the leaning south wall of the nave, probably dating to the 17th century.

Fittings include a 13th-century coffin lid with a foliated cross in relief against the west wall of the south aisle. The chancel contains a 17th-century communion table altar, and the altar rails have 17th-century turned balusters and a moulded hand rail. The 19th-century pews incorporate some 17th-century panelling. The pulpit in the north-east corner of the nave has a 17th-century panelled base, with the upper part being 19th-century and incorporating traceried panels; adjoining rector's pew has similar panels. Pews in the nave and south aisle are box pews constructed from 17th-century panelling, the interior of that at the east end of the nave having a fluted frieze. A door on the south side of the nave is dated "SH 1688". The west end of the nave contains three benches and an early 19th-century raised seating area. An early 18th-century family pew in the north chapel has a canopy supported on slender fluted columns. Fragments of 14th-century glass survive in many windows, including a Coronation of the Virgin in the head of the east window of the north chapel. Eighteenth-century floor slabs in the chancel commemorate the Salway family with armorial bearings. Six diamond-shaped hatchments hang in the chancel.