Church Of St Bartholomew

Church of St. Bartholomew

An Anglican parish church of late 12th-century and 15th-century date, with substantial restoration undertaken in 1842–43 and around 1877, when the chancel arch, chancel and vestry were rebuilt.

The church is constructed principally of coursed squared and dressed limestone for the nave south wall, tower and south porch, with limestone rubble for the north aisle and ashlar for the chancel and vestry. The roof is slate. The plan comprises a nave with north aisle, north and south porches, and a west-end tower, with a chancel and vestry on the south.

The north aisle was rebuilt around 1500 in late Perpendicular style. It features two 2-light windows with cinquefoil heads and carved spandrels set within rectangular surrounds with casement mouldings, each with a continuous hood stepped up over it and a carved shield at the centre. A buttress with engaged crocketed pinnacle stands between the windows. At the north-east corner is a diagonal buttress incorporating a trefoil-headed niche within an ogee-curved opening, containing a Tudor Rose flanked by engaged crocketed pinnacles, with a grotesque head and pinnacle above. Smaller pinnacles decorate the parapet at mid-length and the north-west corner. A large shield decorates the left-hand return, possibly blocking a small window, with a stepped hood. A small blocked opening appears upper left. A single trefoil-headed light with carved spandrels and continuous hood, incorporating a carved clawed foot, sits right of the porch. A blocked pointed window with tracery and stopped hood appears in the right-hand return. The parapet has moulded capping with unusually large grotesque heads and animal figures on a deep moulded string below.

The late Perpendicular north porch features an early planked door with "1626" scratched on its back, set within a round-headed surround, with a stopped hood and blind quatrefoil above.

The nave south wall has a moulded plinth continued around the south porch. It contains one 2-light and one 3-light window with cinquefoil-headed lights in rectangular surrounds with casement mouldings and stopped hoods. The clerestory has two 2-light cinquefoil-headed stone-mullioned windows. The parapet features moulded capping and a string with single small grotesque heads over each window and at the south-east corner. A buttress sits at the far left. An off-centre left porch has a 20th-century door with fillets within a late Perpendicular Tudor-arched surround with stopped hood, and an eroded head over the entrance.

The late Perpendicular tower has diagonal buttresses with offsets. A single trefoil-headed light appears in the second stage on the west. The third stage features three 2-light belfry windows with stone louvres. All openings have stopped hoods. An octagonal ribbed stone spire with pinnacles at each corner rises above, with four lucarnes containing stone louvres.

The chancel has diagonal buttresses and a 3-light 19th-century east window. The vestry has a 19th-century planked door with decorative hinges in its east-facing wall, with a trefoil-headed light to the right.

The interior of the north porch contains a stone bench seat on the right and a ribbed vault rising from engaged columns with roll-moulded capitals, centred with a large Tudor Rose. Grotesque heads mark where the vaulting meets the side walls, and a single heraldic shield adorns each wall. A defaced stoup sits inside the entrance. The east wall has a niche with a partly blind trefoiled head showing traces of painting, with a pierced stone cresset as sill and a narrow flue rising from the niche back. An early studded planked door with original ironwork leads to the north aisle, set within a pointed arch with ogee moulding; the inner order may be Transitional Norman.

The south porch has similar vaulting to the north porch, with stone bench seats either side, a small trefoil-headed light in the east wall, and double 20th-century doors to the nave within a Tudor-arched surround.

The church interior features a late 12th-century north arcade of three bays with pointed arches of two chamfered orders with hoodmoulds on round piers, scalloped capitals and octagonal abaci. A 19th-century pointed chancel arch of two orders spans the east end. A flat-chamfered pointed arch in the south wall of the chancel leads to the vestry or organ chamber. A planked door with fillets within a roll-moulded pointed arch provides access to the base of the tower. The nave has a 19th-century panelled roof. The three-bay chancel features arch-braced collar beam roof trusses. Stone flags cover the nave floor, while coloured and encaustic tiling covers the chancel floor.

At the east end of the north aisle stands a cinquefoil-headed niche with crocketed pinnacles. Two shields bearing the initials "S K" above the niche and an emblematic wheel on an image bracket indicate this was a chapel dedicated to St. Katherine. Foliate spandrels decorate the windows lighting the north aisle. A carved stone shield with a crowned heart sits above the left-hand window, while a similar shield with a clawed foot sits above the right-hand window; both windows lie within pointed-headed recesses. The south wall of the nave contains a niche at the edge of the left-hand side of the easternmost window, featuring a finely carved crocketed canopy with 4-petal flower decoration and trefoil-head panelling below.

The furnishings include a Regency Gothick font at the south-west corner of the nave, Regency Gothick pews with finials, a 19th-century altar, a painted 19th-century wooden reredos, and 19th-century stained glass in the east window. 15th-century stained glass with inscription and decoration in the form of stars, crowns and a Tudor Rose is also present.