Church Of St Bartholomew

The Church of St Bartholomew is an Anglican parish church largely dating to the 14th and 15th centuries, with a mid-19th century restoration. The church is constructed of coursed and squared lias rubble with lias freestone dressings, covered by slate roofs with coped verges. It comprises a nave, chancel, north and south porches (the south porch now serving as a vestry), and a west tower. The architecture reflects both Decorated and Perpendicular styles.

The tower is of the Quantock type, featuring set-back buttresses connected diagonally across the lower two stages, culminating in diagonal pinnacles on shafts. It has paired two-light bell-chamber windows with Somerset tracery, flanked by attached shafts and pinnacles, and single windows above. An embattled parapet includes pierced quatrefoil panels, angle pinnacles, and gargoyles. A polygonal stair-turret with a quatrefoiled parapet is present on the base stage. The west window is four-light with two two-light sub-arches, and the doorway has a four-centred arch with spandrels containing quatrefoil panels, set within a moulded surround. Pair ribbed and studded doors are installed.

The three-bay nave has three simple two-light Decorated windows and a single Perpendicular window. Remains of a former rood turret are visible on the north side. A gabled north porch was added in the 19th century. The vestry is rendered and gabled, featuring an 18th-century stone-mullioned window with Y-tracery. The two-bay chancel has two-light Decorated windows, one north-facing and believed to have been renewed in 1903, and a three-light Perpendicular east window.

Inside, the church features wood block and flagstone floors beneath a 19th-century wagon roof, and a 19th-century ringing-chamber floor within the tower. A panelled Perpendicular tower arch defines the nave. The nave includes a piscina, upper and lower entrances to the former rood loft, a Norman tub font, and a broad 14th-century sedilia in the chancel with an ogee arch. A full set of 16th and 17th century carved bench ends, incorporating figures, emblems, and one dated 1614, are present along with 19th-century restoration work. Remains of a 15th-century rood screen can be seen. The pulpit is constructed from richly carved fragments of the former rood loft, and two readers incorporate carvings from old pews. There are also 19th-century choir stalls incorporating further early carved fragments, a medieval chest, and an 18th-century chest. Large 18th-century paintings of Moses and Aaron are displayed under the tower. The church also includes 19th-century altar rails and a tiled reredos. The windows have rere-arches; those in the nave have simple leaded lights, while the chancel windows contain fragments of medieval stained glass, along with windows by O'Connor (dated 1866 and 1877) and a window of 1903 by Thomas William Cann of Birmingham. Two 19th-century wall monuments are also present. The church is believed to stand on a Saxon site, though no Saxon fabric remains visible in the present structure.