Old Church Of St Bartholomew

The Old Church of St Bartholomew is an early 12th-century disused church, with 14th-century and early 19th-century alterations. It is built of coursed rubble with quoins and dressings of a travertine-like stone, and has a plain tile roof. The church consists of a chancel, nave, and a south porch.

The chancel’s south wall features a blocked priest’s door to the west of a 14th-century window with two trefoiled lights and tracery under a square head. The east wall has an early 19th-century window with a two-centred head, and the north wall contains a small round-headed opening from the 12th century; both east and north walls are rendered. The nave’s south wall has a large 14th-century lancet next to a 12th-century round-headed window. To the west of these is the timber south porch, dating from the 14th century, with a single bay roof featuring curved wind braces and weatherboarded walls. The barge boards are enriched with an engrailed moulding. The south door has a 12th-century semi-circular head of a single order, supported by engaged jamb shafts with sandstone scalloped capitals. The door itself is likely from the 14th century, with strap hinges. The west wall has a large, square-headed 19th-century window below a 12th-century round-headed opening. The north wall contains a blocked 12th-century doorway and a large early 19th-century window with a two-centred head.

Inside the chancel, the north wall has two square aumbries (niches), and the south wall contains a piscina and a square aumbry. Above the east window, a blocked 12th-century window remains. The chancel arch was removed in the early 19th century, and the jambs were cut back. The resulting space was spanned with a plastered partition featuring a depressed arch. The roofs are likely from the 14th century. The nave has a collar rafter roof with curved braces from rafter to collar and curved ashlar pieces, forming an elliptical vault. A similar, smaller roof covers the chancel. There are two tie-beams in the chancel and three in the nave; the tie-beam to the east of the nave carries a close-studded truss. Fittings include an early 19th-century west gallery and remnants of a circular font base, the font itself having been removed to Church of St Bartholomew in Harpley. Traces of medieval wall paintings are visible on the north wall of the nave. The church is scheduled as an ancient monument and is now in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches. It represents an interesting example of pre-Victorian church alterations.