Listed Building: Church of St. Bartholomew (1040874)

Church. Saxon (mid C10-C11) C13, C14; tower repaired c.1718, spire rebuilt 1807; chancel rebuilt 1891 by E.F. Law, when whole church was restored; spire again rebuilt 1957. Coursed squared ironstone with limestone dressings, plain-tile roofs, except to aisles - of lead. Chancel, nave, north and south aisles and chancel chapels, south porch, west tower and vestry. 3-bay chancel has 3-light stepped lancet east window and coupled lancets to north and south. Nave has 3-bay clerestory of quatrefoils in square chamfered stone surrounds. Long and short work to angles of Saxon nave visible at west end and to west of easternmost bays of arcades inside. North and south chancel chapels overlap chancel and continue aisles. North aisle has 2-light Decorated east window and 3-light Decorated windows to north. The two windows east of north door are wider and have curvilinear tracery, that to west of door has reticulated tracery. Double hollow-chamfered north doorway with C19 double-leaf door. Chamfered plinth, diagonal offset buttresses, offset buttress between middle and east bays, sill band forming hood mould to north door and plain stone-coped parapet. South aisle has 3-light Perpendicular east window with 4-centred head, 3-light windows to south, Perpendicular with straight head to west of porch, Decorated with curvilinear tracery to east. Hollow-chamfered south doorway with hood mould and double-leaf C19 doors in south porch with double-chamfered doorway and one-light windows north and south. Rainwater heads dated 1891 and similar plinth, sill and buttresses and parapet to north aisle. 4-stage west tower has 2-light window to west with pointed trefoil-headed lights and quatrefoil to head. Small quatrefoil window to south of next stage, a one-light window to west, similar window above. Clock-face in stone diamond surround. 2-light bell-openings with Y-tracery, small quatrefoils to heads and Gibbs surrounds. Coved cornice and recessed spire with 3 tiers of lucarnes rising from battlemented octagonal base. Single-storey vestry of 1923 to north of tower. Most windows have hood moulds. Interior: chancel has piscina with hollow-chamfered head on corbels. Double-chamfered arches to former chancel chapels north and south with polygonal responds; chamfer of arch to north chapel is continuous. Image bracket to north of east window of north chapel. Image brackets with carved heads flank east window south chapel, which has piscina with ogee-arched cusped head. Double-chamfered chancel arch, innermost on corbels. Nave has 2-bay arcades with octagonal piers, polygonal responds and double-chamfered arches. Circular font carved with beaded diamonds, filled with flowers. Pulpit has Jacobean panels. Royal arms of Elizabeth I dated 1592, oil on board. Royal arms dated 1826, carved wood, the gift of W. Edwards. C19 stained glass, east windows and into aisles. Monuments: brass to Lady Greene (Sir Thomas d.1417). Alabaster effigies of Sir Thomas Greene d.1457 and his wife. Brass of Sir Thomas Greene d.1462 inside large recess with moulded 4-centred arched head, on tomb-chest with shields in pointed quatrefoils. Alabaster wall monument to John Hicklinge d.1558 with marble colonettes, slate inscription tablet, apron, obelisks and cartouche with arms. Alabaster wall monument to William Hicklinge d.1606 and his wife Frances d.1603: kneeling couple facing each other at prayer desk, daughter behind her mother, large plumed helmet behind her father in niche with semi-circular superstructure and curtains held open by angels either side. Slate inscription below with arms in apron, obelisks and cartouche to superstructure flanked by pilasters and topped by broken pediment framing arms. (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, 1973, pp.239-10; H.M and J. Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture, Vol.I, pp.261-2).

Record last edited

Dec 19 2023 12:39PM