Church Of St Bartholomew

Church of St Bartholomew

This church has 12th-century origins but was substantially rebuilt in the mid to late 13th century. The early 17th century saw major additions including a clerestory, the Spencer Chapel, and a south-west tower built in 1611, along with a south porch constructed in 1616. These later works were commissioned by Sir Thomas Spencer of Yarnton Manor. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble, with the tower and Spencer Chapel built in ashlar. The roofs are covered with stone slate over the chancel and porch, and shallow-gabled lead roofs elsewhere.

The plan comprises a chancel with a south chapel, an aisled nave, a south porch, and a south-west tower. The chancel contains a fine late 13th-century cinquefoiled 3-light east window, along with 13th-century and Norman lancets on the north side of the chapel. The Spencer Chapel features a Perpendicular-style 5-light east window and two 3-light south windows with panel tracery and restored mullions, topped with a crenellated parapet.

The north side of the nave displays a 17th-century arched doorway with imposts and a studded door, a 15th-century Perpendicular 3-light window with panel tracery, a 15th-century 2-light window, and a partly restored 15th-century Perpendicular 3-light window with panel tracery to the west. An early 17th-century 2-light hollow-moulded round-arched clerestory window sits beneath a label mould. The south side contains a label-moulded 14th-century 2-light plain window, restored 13th-century lancets, and two similar early 17th-century clerestory windows. The early 17th-century porch has a shallow chamfered arch over a 17th-century studded door.

The four-storey south-west tower, built in the early 17th century, features a 3-light Perpendicular window with panel tracery to the west. A stair-turret on the south side provides steps to a 17th-century studded door. Label moulds crown a 17th-century hollow-moulded rounded-arched window and similar 2-light windows. The tower is topped with a crenellated parapet, as is the nave.

The interior is exceptionally rich. The chancel contains a fine 15th-century Nottingham alabaster reredos depicting the Adoration of the Magi, the Betrayal, Christ Carrying the Cross, and the Pieta. Early 17th-century carved woodwork with strapwork and classical-style arches decorates the stalls. The chancel features a two-bay late 16th or early 17th-century roof with arch-braced collar-trusses and windbraces. A mid 13th-century chancel arch of three orders displays hollow-chamfered arches and triple shafts.

The Spencer Chapel contains a very fine early 17th-century richly carved screen with strapwork cresting and obelisks. The screen features carved putti heads to the cornice, fluted columns, and arches carved with strapwork, bosses, and zigzag ornament. A 12th-century tub-shaped stone font sits on a moulded wooden base. Early 17th-century panelled stalls with ball poppyheads and early 17th-century seats with panelled backs on turned legs feature ventilated vestment cupboards beneath. A parish hearse with turned legs, donated in 1820, is also present.

The nave contains a pulpit and reading desk with fine early 17th-century carving. A 15th-century octagonal font displays trefoiled tracery to the stem and foliate, quatrefoil, and animal carvings. Fifteenth-century bench ends with poppyheads adorn the west ends of the nave and south aisle, while late 18th-century box pews occupy the east of the south aisle. A screen to the tower was made in 1854 from Jacobean panels with carved strapwork and balusters. Early 17th-century four-bay roofs feature arch-braced moulded tie-beam trusses with moulded beams. A late 13th-century four-bay south arcade consists of double chamfered arches set on round piers. The porch displays an early 17th-century moulded plaster cornice with lions' masks and unicorns to the frieze, adorned with fleur-de-lys and rampant lions on shields. A fine early 17th-century studded door with strap hinges and Norfolk latch is set in a plain 12th-century doorway with moulded imposts.

Wall paintings include 15th-century fragments over the chancel arch, including a Nativity scene. Monuments include a monumental brass by Thomas Knowles depicting William Fletcher, died 1826, set on a Gothic carved tomb chest, along with 19th-century wall tablets. The Spencer Chapel contains significant monuments: a large monumental memorial by Jasper Hollemans for Sir William Spencer, died 1609, and his wife features Spencer griffin and crest flanked by obelisks surmounting Corinthian columns framing recumbent effigies set in an elaborately carved arch with figures of children below and rich Flemish carving throughout. A large Baroque monument by John Nost honours Sir Thomas Spencer, died 1684, and his wife, with the Spencer crest set in a shaped pediment with acanthus scrolls and flaming urns above an architectural frame depicting Sir Thomas with his wife, sons, and daughters. An oval wall tablet to Jane Spencer, died 1689, is framed by finely carved festoons of flowers. Another oval wall tablet to Margaret Mordant, died 1706, is set in an architectural frame with a flaming urn in a scrolled pediment flanked by Doric pilasters with festoons and cherubs. A monument to Charlotte Augusta, Duchess of Marlborough, died 1850, depicts a marble relief with a mother, angel, and children.

The stained glass is extensive. The chancel contains much 15th-century stained glass, mostly donated in the early 19th century, depicting cherubims and birds, along with 17th and 18th-century Flemish glass in the north-west window. The Spencer Chapel holds what Pevsner described as the "largest collection in the country of early 17th-century armorial glass". The nave windows contain much fine reset 15th-century glass including monks and saints, 16th and 17th-century armorial glass, and an early 14th-century donor figure in the north-west corner. The south aisle displays 18th-century Flemish glass of saints to the east and 15th-century figures of cherubim and saints. The west window contains 14th and 15th-century roundels, a saint's head, and a canopy.