Former Church of St Bartholomew (CoE)

Former Parish church of Layston parish, now private dwelling, located on the north side of The Causeway in Buntingford.

The church comprises a long, square-ended chancel of early 13th-century origin, a nave with very thick walls suggesting early origins but with 15th-century details, a west tower and porch both of early 15th-century date. The chancel was restored in 1904 by A A C Blomfield, and the tower in 1906.

The building is constructed of flint rubble with some Roman tiles, stone dressings, and roughcast on the north and east walls. The north side of the nave features blue brick parapet repairs, whilst knapped flint is used for nave parapets and in flushwork chequered dado around the tower plinth. The chancel retains a steep old red tile roof, though the nave is now unroofed.

The chancel is a fine example of medieval parish church work, featuring a triplet of lancets at the east end with moulded string at sill level inside on the east and south walls. Two blocked lancets appear in the north wall. Two lancets in the south wall flank a priest's door beneath the western one, alongside a large three-light 15th-century traceried window. The chancel arch was widened in the late 15th century and fitted with a moulded four-centred arch and shafted jambs, now closed by tall folding doors from the unroofed nave. A 15th-century grotesque face bracket on the south wall still retains traces of paint. An aumbrey and piscina with 13th-century rebated jambs and shouldered arches occupy the east and south walls. The chancel roof is a three-bay oak arch-braced collar-truss with ridge, purlins, ashlar pieces and wall posts on corbels, renewed by Blomfield.

The rectangular nave contains three tall windows in each side wall, with a blocked north door opposite a south door. The rood-loft stair opening occupies the north east corner. The windows are three-light with two-light windows to the west of the doors, all featuring cinquefoil heads under four-centred arches and wide casement mouldings to the inner jambs. The south west window is of earlier date. The north doorway has a two-centred arch with moulded square label on the inside; the south doorway, originally similar, has been replaced by brick jambs.

The west tower displays diagonal buttresses and contains a newel stair in the south east angle. The tower arch comprises three moulded orders with shafted jambs. The west door features moulded jambs and a pointed arch in a square head with traceried spandrels and label. A three-light 15th-century traceried west window lights the interior, whilst two-light pointed bell chamber openings have four-centred traceried heads. A stoup with cinquefoil head stands to the south of the west door.

The south porch is entered through an original four-centred stone archway with moulded jambs beneath a square head with rose-in-quatrefoil spandrels. A niche surmounts the door, and diagonal buttresses flank the entrance. Two-light side windows and a moulded parapet complete the porch.

The chancel contains a significant collection of monuments. John Crouch (died 1605) is commemorated by a splendid Derbyshire spar wall monument with paired Corinthian columns flanking a black marble centre, set in an alabaster egg and dart frame beneath a full entablature with a raised central block bearing a carved achievement and three carved seated figures, the middle one flanked by infants and holding a baby. Pike Crouch (died 1712, though the monument dates to circa 1756) is honoured by a Neo-Classical urn in aedicule signed by I Wilton, featuring a skull in a triangular pediment and impost with guttae, all in white marble on a grey marble ground. A gadrooned bracket carries a pedestal with Greek key band and a coat of arms in relief on the urn base, with a scrolled keystone to the hemicycle top. Thomas Edridge (died 1745) is remembered by a marble oval plaque with fine lettering. On the south wall, William Slatholme (died 1665, doctor of physic) is commemorated by a marble monument with a grey central panel, recessed pilasters and full entablature with broken pediment and central cartouche.

A 15th or 16th-century oak reading desk, carved with narrow cusped panels in two rows, survives in the church. The upper row features narrow crocketed finials rising from the bottom row, with a heavy curved pomegranate scroll frieze and lozenge reticulation around the top. The desk has a broad front and narrow returns.

This medium-sized medieval church is of exceptional interest for its 13th-century chancel, ornate tower, and notable monuments.