Description

SK 93 NE WELBY CHURCH LANE
20-9-66
2/68 Church of St.Bartholomew

I

Parish Church; C13, C14, C15, C16, restored 1873 by J. H. Hakewill; ashlar
and coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; felt and slate roofs.
Western tower, nave and clerestorey, north aisle, chancel, vestry. The C13
unbuttressed tower is in limestone rubble with quoins; it has a plinth with
splay and roll moulding, a tall first stage and short 2nd stage with plain
square string course. The south side has a C13 small lancet set high up in
the 1st stage, the west window is a taller lancet with hood mould. All faces
have C14 2 light belfry openings in 2nd stage. The octagonal shallow broached
spire terminates in a 4 sided point. There are 2 sets of alternating lucarnes.
The tower is much narrower than the nave and leaves the plain ashlar nave
west wall exposed. The line of the original nave and aisle roof pitch can be
seen. The west aisle window is a C15 2 light under a triangular head with
hood mould. The north side has 4 bays marked by 5 stepped buttresses. It
has a plain plinth and parapet with saddleback coping behind which is a felted
roof drained by 3 gargoyles. The north doorway, now blocked, is a plain 4
centre arch, it is flanked by to the west a 3 light C15 shallow triangular
headed window with reticulated tracery and to the east by 2 similar windows all
with hood mould. The north clerestorey has a panelled parapet with shields
in quatrefoils and saddleback coping. There are 4 pinnacle bases and 4
gargoyles, 2 defaced. The nave roof is felted, but not visible. There are
six 3 cusped light C16 windows with 4 centre heads under continuous hood moulds.
At each end are plain buttresses. The vestry, with slate roof, built in 1873,
has in its west end a reset C15 window with reticulated tracery. The ashlar
chancel, rebuilt in 1873, has shaped kneelers and a cross to the stone
coped gable. At the east end are 3 stepped C19 lancets. On the south side
are 3 single lancets a machine moulded corbel table and several reused C12
sculptured stones. The south east corner of the nave is built out in a
polygonal shape to house the rood stair; the nave is in ashlar and forms a
C16 almost symmetrically balanced composition in 3 main bays, the central one
housing the porch. There is a plinth, string course and parapet decorated with
frieze as north clerestorey. The frieze is carried round the west end of the
nave and a large human head and cross mark the ridge. The clerestorey is
divided into 6 bays by flat pilasters that rise from the string course to the
parapet where they are panelled and then surmounted by crocketed pinnacles.
At the west end is a full height stepped buttress with gargoyle. The tall
porch has splayed corner buttresses, a steeply pointed gable enriched with
a parapet decorated with shields in quatrefoils set square in a stepped
formation. The interstices are filled with trefoils. At the ridge is a
niche supported on a pair of shield bearing angels. It has a richly decorated
canopy with crocketed pinnacle. The end pinnacles are supported on winged
scaly creatures. The opening is a curved pointed arch with moulded reveals
and has hood mould with human mask stops. The porch is flanked by single 4
light windows with 4 centre heads and panel tracery. The clerestorey has
6 lights as north side, which sit on the string course. The south doorway
Has a 4 centre arch head and 5 panelled traceried C16 door. The interior is
all in ashlar except for the west wall of the nave and north wall of the aisle,
which are exposed rubble. The north arcade is 4 bays with C15 octagonal piers
and cyma moulded and chamfered arches. The capitals are stepped and moulded.
The west respond is C13 and circular. The tower arch is a small C13 opening.
In the west wall can be seen the earlier steep pitch of the nave roof and at
high level above the pitch line are 2 reset stones, one a piece of Anglo Saxon
interlace. There is one statue bracket on the north side of the aisle. The
upper and lower rood stair doors survive. The roof is C17, built off large
corbels of human heads and shields. The chancel arch end chancel are all 1673.
Fittings: The rood screen is early C16 and of 6 panels with 2 over the door.
It has ogee decoration with panel tracery above using roses in its design.
There is a curved gilded canopy, topped by 4 angels. The screen was extensively
restored in 1948. The bench ends to the nave are C15 poppyhead type. The
pulpit and brass eagle lectern are C19 and the Gothic oak reredos dates from
1887. The C17 font is octagonal and decorated with shields and oak
leaves. The south aisle windows have fragments of C15 glass. Monuments; In
the porch is a C14 stone figure of a woman in a coffin with a quatrefoil head.
At her feet is a small swathed figure of a baby. Above the door is a timber
board dated 1824 to the Dodwell Charity.

Listing NGR: SK9754138186

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Bartholomew's Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15978828

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)