Church of St. Bartholomew

The Church of St. Bartholomew is a late 13th-century church located in Lower Basildon, with a tower built in 1734, and restored with the addition of a porch and north aisle in 1875-6. The church is constructed of flint with Bath stone dressings, with an old tile roof, higher over the chancel, featuring coped parapeted gabled ends and carved kneelers to the east. A grey brick west tower is distinguished by red dressings, chainage, arched gauged window heads with stone keystones and impost blocks, a moulded plinth, plat bands, and a stone coped battlemented parapet with corner obelisks and weathervanes.

The tower has three stages. The louvred bell stage openings are present on all faces, with a clock below to the south. Two second stage windows are present, blocked to the west and partially blocked to the south; a first stage window is to the west, and an arched south doorway has a rusticated brick surround and boarded door.

The south side of the nave has three two-light windows with cusped Y-tracery and returned hoodmoulds. A south doorway is positioned between the first and second windows from the left, shafted with carved capitals, a moulded arch, and a boarded door. A 19th-century gabled porch features a moulded arch with shafts, carved capitals, and a hoodmould with carved stops, both inside and out, along with cusped one-light openings on its east and west faces. A blocked arch is situated inside to the east. The north side of the nave has a two-light window to the right with cusped Y-tracery and a returned hoodmould; a 19th-century lean-to north aisle is attached to the left, with a two-ogee light window.

The chancel’s south side has two two-light windows with geometrical tracery and hoodmoulds with carved stops; an arched doorway is positioned between them, off-centre to the left, with a raised cill string serving as a hoodmould over a boarded door. A 14th-century canopied chest tomb is recessed in the wall, originally from within the church, featuring bland arched arcading along its base, a large cusped arch, pinnacles, and ballflower ornament; it now serves as a monument to Sir Francis Sykes, dated 1804. The north side of the chancel has two two-light windows with geometrical tracery and hoodmoulds with carved stops.

The east end features a large three-light window with geometrical tracery and a hoodmould with carved stops.

Inside, the church features a 19th-century moulded tower arch with a hoodmould and carved stops. A 19th-century three-bay north aisle arcade has round piers, moulded capitals and bases, and chamfered arches. The nave has a 19th-century roof of six bays with tie beams, double purlins, and arch braced collars with struts to the second purlins. Other features include a 19th-century moulded and shafted chancel arch, a chancel cill string, and a 19th-century chancel roof of three bays matching the nave. A 15th-century octagonal stone font has quatrefoil panelled sides. Monuments include a brass to John Clerk and his wife, dated 1497, a tablet to Sir Francis Sykes, 1804, by Flaxman, with a mourning window by urn and portrait medallion; and a tablet to Sir Francis W. Sykes, 1843, Gothic by R. Brown. Jethro Tull (1674-1740), the agricultural innovator, was christened and buried in this church.