Church Of St Bartholomew

Church of St Bartholomew, Haslemere

Church of St Bartholomew is sited in a residential area on Church Green, set within a large churchyard and associated with a former school. The tower is probably 13th century, while the remainder of the church is mostly a rebuilding by J. W. Penfold in Early English style undertaken in 1871.

Exterior

The church is constructed of rock-faced rubble with tiled roofs. Old headstones have been cut into the nave walling. The west tower, probably 13th century, is of very plain character with small chamfered windows and one large lancet in the west wall. The belfry stage is later with a pyramidal roof and weathervane. Between the north wall of the tower and the north aisle, a section of walling contains two doorways positioned one above the other, with a probably 20th-century flight of steps across the west wall providing access to the upper doorway.

The main body of the church comprises a nave and chancel with four-bay north and south aisles, separately roofed. A southwest porch, northeast organ chamber, and to its east a later vestry project forward from the east wall. The church is linked to a former school, now containing the parish office, on the southeast side.

The chancel is buttressed with a stepped triple lancet to the east. The south side of the chancel has two pairs of lancets and two probably late 19th-century gabled roof dormers of domestic character with carved bargeboards and pairs of trefoil-headed timber windows. The buttressed south aisle has a stepped triple lancet east window in its west end and two-light plate-traceried south windows. Both aisles have a pair of lancets and a quatrefoil above in their west ends. The north aisle has one lancet and plate-traceried two-light windows. A low probably 20th-century timber-framed porch block with hipped roof projects from the north wall of the aisle at its east end, connected to a link to the former school.

The northeast vestry block has a rainwater head dated 1888 but has evidently been extended later. A stack with paired polygonal chimney shafts rises against the north wall of the chancel. A late 19th or early 20th-century timber-framed porch with open traceried sides and later glazing occupies the southwest position. A secondary screen wall with doorway divides this porch into two.

Interior

A moulded 19th-century chancel arch on marble shafts with stone bases opens into the chancel. A 19th-century double-chamfered tower arch stands at the west. The arcades feature circular piers with moulded capitals and very wide double-chamfered arches.

The nave is roofed with a good open crown post roof having moulded tie beams, the crown post with two-way bracing. The aisle roofs are arch braced, as is the chancel roof. The dormer windows in the chancel probably post-date the roof as the rafters extend across the openings.

The east window has internal marble shafts to its openings. A reredos of three mosaic panels in a stone frame decorated with fleurons occupies the east wall. Polychromatic alabaster and marble dado decorated with lozenges extends across the east wall on either side of the reredos. A conventional brass and timber sanctuary rail and encaustic tiles to the chancel floor complete the sanctuary furnishings.

Probable late 19th-century choir stalls with shouldered ends, finials, and frontals with a frieze of pierced trefoils are positioned in the chancel, with 20th-century choir stalls in the southeast end of the south aisle. A late 19th or early 20th-century polygonal timber pulpit with linenfold panelled sides stands in the nave.

An unusual 1870 polychromatic marble font features a deep moulded bowl on a short shaft with a carved capital and taller corner shafts with capitals. The 19th-century nave benches have chunky curved ends.

The organ case incorporates a fine and unusual circa 1900 Morris and Company tapestry depicting angel musicians. Panels of probably 17th-century Flemish glass are leaded into the west window of the north aisle. A Tennyson memorial window illustrating the Holy Grail, designed by Burne-Jones for Morris and Company and dedicated by friends and neighbours in Haslemere, is a particular treasure. Many other 19th-century stained glass windows of varying quality are present throughout the church, some of very good quality. Several early 19th-century and later wall plaques are mounted on the walls. An enormous alabaster wall monument to James Stewart Hodgson, died 1899, in the chancel features three female figures carved in relief, signed by P Cockerell and A Fabrucci.

Historical Significance

St Bartholomew's retains its probably 13th-century west tower, but was substantially rebuilt in 1871 in the Early English style by J. W. Penfold. The church contains a number of interesting internal features of distinction, including its good open crown post roof to the nave, a polychromatic font of 1870, a Tennyson memorial window designed by Burne-Jones, and a fine tapestry on the organ chest by Morris and Company depicting angel musicians.