Church Of St Bartholomew

The Church of St Bartholomew is a building of group value, dating from 1832 and originally designed in a classical style by George Draper. In 1929, the west tower was removed and a chancel added, to the designs of Macdonald Gill. The west end of the church is constructed of ashlar masonry, while the side walls are of galletted stone rubble, all brought to course. The roof is hipped and covered with slate, featuring deep eaves supported by brackets.

The building’s plan incorporates a rectangular nave with an internal porch and a staircase leading to a west end gallery which houses the organ. A small chancel was added in 1929, accompanied by a vestry to the north-east. The west front is divided into three bays by pilasters and topped by a pediment over the central bay. Pilasters extend upwards, aligning with string courses at first-floor and gallery sill levels. Round-headed openings feature Portland stone frames; a central doorway is flanked by niches, and an upper west window is flanked by oculi. The doorway has a two-leaf door and a glazed fanlight with a spoke leading design, mirroring the glazing in the upper west window. The north side has large round-headed windows with spoke leading glazing, and a bell is sheltered by a small lean-to roof supported by timber brackets. The south side has two blind windows. The vestry and chancel are built in a matching style, also with round-headed openings framed in Bath stone.

Inside, a plain round-headed chancel arch is present in the east wall. The nave features a flat plastered ceiling decorated with shallow plaster ribs arranged in a lozenge pattern. The 1929 chancel has a canted boarded roof divided into panels by painted moulded ribs and adorned with floral and star motifs. A timber-panelled reredos, also dating from 1929, features a painted cover and cresting of gilded lilies. The west end gallery, dating from the late 19th to early 20th century, is supported by timber posts with the front projecting forward in the centre. Early 20th-century benches include panelled backs and shoulders with round-headed panelling. The font, dating from around 1883, has an octagonal stone bowl decorated with carving on a marble stem, featuring marble shafts and stiff-leaf capitals.

George Draper, the original architect, practised in Chichester, designing classical and Gothic churches, among other building types. The churchyard is believed to be the location of a former round church, previously recorded in engravings but demolished in 1642. The church ceased to function as a parish church in 1954, subsequently being used by a theological college and later by the Servants of the Holy Cross, an order of Anglican Nuns, under the administration of the Mother Agnes Trust from 2002.