Church Of St Bartholomew

Church of St Bartholomew

This is a parish church of medieval origin, with significant stonework dating to the 12th and 13th centuries, further elements from the 15th or 16th centuries, a tower built in 1601, and 17th-century additions. The building was substantially restored in the mid-19th century and again in the 1880s by the architect Ewan Christian. The walls are constructed of coursed, squared stone, with the tower and south chancel approaching ashlar finish. The roof is of stone slate.

The building comprises a nave, western tower, south aisle, north porch, and chancel. The south facade displays the tower prominently, with a plinth, an octagonal turret on the right, two narrow slits above it, a string course, another slit, a two-light louvred window, a further string course, and a crenellated parapet with corner finials. To the right stands the gable of the south aisle, which has a three-light window with rounded trefoil heads beneath an almost three-centred arch, with a plain stone chute for the valley gutter.

The south side of the south aisle features angled corner buttresses and a plinth against which eight 17th and 18th-century headstones are set. Above this is a two-light Perpendicular window and a double-boarded door in a moulded arch. To the right are two chest tombs built into the wall, belonging to John and Edward Cummins (died 1706 and 1714 respectively), ornamented with leaf and scroll carving and carved figures in half relief depicting memento mori themes. A three-light window with trefoil heads stands above, set under a transom just above the springing of the main arch, with two-light tracery above. The wall is topped with parapet gables with cross-gablet apices. The south chancel wall has a plinth and a three-light window with flat head and double cusping; the date 1880 appears on the rainwater head. It is crowned with a parapet gable and a stone cross on the apex. The east wall has a plinth and a three-light Perpendicular window above.

The north wall of the chancel is plain with a plinth. The nave's north wall has a plinth with blue bricks beneath it and a three-light Perpendicular window, topped with a parapet gable and cross on cross-gablet apex, with a square-set corner buttress. The north porch is a gabled, two-storey structure rising above the nave, with splayed infill to the angles at each side. Two narrow slits appear on its left return, with a corbelled base to what was probably formerly a chimney. The porch doorway is arched with a moulded surround and wrought-iron gates; inside, a boarded door in a moulded surround is surmounted by a ribbed quadripartite vault on corner colonnettes with moulded capitals and scalloped bases. A parapet gable with cross-gablet apex and cross crowns the porch. To the right of the porch, the nave is set back; three reset 12th-century stones with chevron carving are visible here, alongside a diamond-shaped monument and a square-set buttress. The tower has a plinth and string course. The west face matches the north, but carries a four-light king-mullion window in the lower stage beneath a four-centred arch.

Interior features include a south aisle with rendered lower walls and a segmental arch to the door, ornamented with reset chevron-moulded voussoirs. The nave has a four-bay arcade with circular columns and moulded capitals and bases. The ceiling is plastered on the line of braces to the collar-rafter roof, which has four tie beams, two fitted with crown or king posts. The nave is stone-paved with plastered walls, and an oversailing eaves course runs above the aisle arcade. A wide, 19th-century chancel arch with plain capitals leads to the chancel. A wide, semi-circular arch connects the tower, with a datestone adjoining on the north side. A single-board door to the stairs to the porch is set in a steeply-arched, moulded surround. A stoup stands by the north door, with a window to the porch room above.

The porch has a cambered, plastered ceiling with five king-post trusses. The chancel's east end is floored with Minton tiles. A piscina with cinquefoil head under a pointed arch and sunk spandrels, originally from the south aisle, is set into the south wall. A shallow stone bowl, halved, is built into the north wall. The collar-rafter roof with straight braces dates to the 1880s.

An octagonal pulpit and sounding board of 1631 stand in the nave, decorated with corner colonnettes and panelled, moulded sides, with a reading ledge on scrolled brackets. The back is panelled with strapwork and has an arched top, with a downturned strapwork edge to the sounding board and a central pendant beneath. An octagonal, lead-lined font with a swept stem features blind, trefoil-headed arches and foliated ogee arches to the sides of the bowl. A few 17th-century pews survive, with further reused ends from the same period.

Wall monuments include several from the 17th and 18th centuries in the tower base and south aisle, and three 19th-century examples in the south aisle. A marble wall monument of 1743 to Sir Robert Austen in the chancel is decorated with gadrooning and fluted Doric pilasters, with a segmental top bearing a coat of arms. A gallery was removed in 1854.