Description

ALDSWORTH ALDSWORTH VILLAGE
SP 1510
11/9 Church of St. Bartholomew
26.1.61
GV I

Anglican parish church. Late C12 and C15, restored 1842-3 and
c1877 when the chancel arch, chancel and vestry were rebuilt. Nave
south wall and tower and south porch coursed squared and dressed
limestone. North aisle limestone rubble, chancel and vestry
ashlar. Slate roof. Plan; nave with north aisle and north and
south porches, tower at west end. Chancel with vestry on south.
North aisle, rebuilt c1500. Two 2-light cinquefoil-headed windows
with carved spandrels within rectangular surrounds with casement
mouldings. Continuous hood stepped up over each window. Carved
shield at centre of hood over each window. Buttress with engaged
crocketed pinnacle at top between windows. Diagonal buttress
incorporating trefoil-headed niche within ogee-curved opening at
north-east corner. Tudor Rose within niche. Engaged crocketed
pinnacles either side of niche. Grotesque head and pinnacle above.
Smaller pinnacle half way along parapet and at north-west corner of
north aisle. Large shield decorating left-hand return of north
aisle, possibly blocking small window, hood stepped up over shield.
Small blocked opening upper left. Single light with trefoiled
head, carved spandrels and continuous hood incorporating carved
clawed foot right of porch. Blocked pointed window with tracery
and stopped hood in right-hand return of north aisle. Moulded
capping to parapet, unusually large grotesque heads and animal
figures decorate deep moulded string below. Late Perpendicular
north porch with early plank door (date 1626 scratched on back of
door) within round-headed surround. Stopped hood and blind
quatrefoil above. Nave south wall; moulded plinth continued
around south porch. One 2-light and one 3-light window with
cinquefoil-headed lights in rectangular surrounds with casement
mouldings and stopped hoods. Two-light cinquefoil-headed stone-
mullioned windows to clerestory. Parapet with moulded capping and
string with single small grotesque heads over each window and at
the south-east corner. Buttress far left. Porch off-centre left
with C20 door with fillets within late Perpendicular Tudor-arched
surround with stopped hood. Eroded head over entrance. Tower;
late Perpendicular with diagonal buttresses with offsets. Single
trefoil-headed light to second stage on west. Three 2-light belfry
windows with stone louvres to third stage. All openings with
stopped hoods. Ribbed octagonal stone spire with pinnacles at each
corner. Four lucarnes with stone louvres. Chancel; diagonal
buttresses and 3-light C19 east window. Vestry with C19 plank door
with decorative hinges in east facing wall, trefoil-headed light
right. Interior of north porch; stone bench seat right, ribbed
vault rising from engaged columns with roll-moulded capitals.
Large Tudor Rose at centre. Grotesque heads where vaulting meets
side walls. Single heraldic shield on each wall. Defaced stoup
inside entrance. Niche in east wall with partly blind trefoiled
head with traces of painting. Pierced stone cresset forming sill,
narrow flue rises from the back of the niche. Early studded plank
door to north aisle with original ironwork. Pointed-arched
surround with ogee moulding, the inner order may be Transitional
Norman. The south porch; vaulting as in north porch, stone bench
seats either side, small trefoil-headed light in east wall. Double
C20 doors within Tudor-arched surround to nave.
Church interior; late C12 north arcade of 3 bays with pointed
arches of two chamfered orders with hoodmoulds on round piers,
scalloped capitals and octagonal abaci. C19 pointed chancel arch
of 2 orders. Flat-chamfered pointed arch in south wall of chancel
to vestry/organ chamber. Plank door with fillets within roll-
moulded pointed arch to base of tower. C19 panelled roof to nave.
Three-bay chancel with arch-braced collar beam roof trusses. Stone
flag floor to nave, coloured and encaustic tiling to floor of
chancel. Cinquefoil-headed niche at east end of north aisle,
crocketed pinnacles. Two.shields bearing the initials 'S K' above
niche and emblematic wheel on image bracket, indicate this was a
chapel dedicated to St. Katherine. Foliate spandrels over windows
lighting north aisle. Carved stone shield with crowned heart over
left-hand window, similar shield with clawed foot over right-hand
window. Both windows lie within pointed-headed recesses. Niche on
south wall of nave and at the edge left-hand side of the
easternmost window with finely carved crocketed canopy and 4-petal
flower decoration trefoil-head panelling below. Furniture and
fittings; Regency Gothick font at south-west corner of nave.
Regency Gothick pews with finials. C19 altar with painted C19
wooden reredos. C19 stained glass in east window. C15 stained
glass with inscription and decoration in form of stars, crowns and
a Tudor Rose.
(David Verey, The Buildings of England, Gloucestershire: The
Cotswolds, 1979; and V.C.H Vol VII

Listing NGR: SP1539009976

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Bartholomew at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17525744

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.

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  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
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  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
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  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
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• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)