Church Of St Bartholemew

The Church of St. Bartholomew is a Grade I listed building located on Church Road in Burstow. Originally built in the 12th century, it was enlarged and remodeled in the 15th century, with a tower added in the 16th century. The church underwent restoration between 1884 and 1895 by B. Ferrey. The structure is made of roughly coursed rubblestone, which was formerly mortar rendered, and features ashlar dressings around the windows and buttresses. The lower stage of the tower is weatherboarded on a stone plinth, with wooden shingles above, while the rest of the building has plain tiled roofs.

The church consists of a nave and a south aisle, with the tower positioned to the west, a porch to the south, a chancel to the east, and a pent roofed vestry to the north-east. The two-stage tower has aisles at the lower stage concealed by pent roofs that hide the buttresses for the upper stages. The upper stage is battered and topped with a broach spire that has a metal weathervane and angle pinnacles. The first stage of the tower features projecting rectangular louvred openings, and most of the remaining windows are in the Perpendicular style. There is a renewed window at the west end of the south aisle and two original windows on the south side of the chancel, which are set under cambered arches. The west end has double planked wooden doors with strapwork hinges, arched under a flat head with trefoil decoration in the spandrels. The south door has a renewed stone surround and timber framed half open gabled porch with quatrefoil spandrel decoration. A 15th-century priest's door is located on the south side of the chancel.

Inside, the church features a three-bay nave arcade to the south, supported by piers of quatrefoil section placed diagonally, with moulded capitals that support a corbelled arcade. The nave has an open crown post roof, and the chancel arch dates from the 15th century. The tower to the west has four corner posts on stone bases with diagonal bracing, and a blocked Norman window is visible on the north side of the chancel.

Notable fittings include a piscina on the north chancel wall, which has a small quatrefoil basin and a chamfered shelf, as well as a Perpendicular style stone font with an octagonal bowl on a stem, featuring quatrefoil designs on both the bowl and the cove between the bowl and stem. The east window in the chancel is dedicated to Sir Jan Flamstead, the First Astronomer Royal, who served as rector of the parish from 1684 to 1719.