The Church of St Bartholomew in the parish of

Yeovilton Yeovilton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Yeovilton and District, in Somerset, England, east of Ilchester and north of Yeovil, in South Somerset district. The parish had a population of 1,226 in the 2011 census, est ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England, was built around 1300. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The church became the property of

Montacute Priory Montacute Priory was a Cluniac priory of the Benedictine order in Montacute, Somerset, England. History It was founded between 1078 and 1102 by William, Count of Mortain, in face of a threat that if he did not do so, the King would take the land ...

and then part of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. It still contains some fabric and fittings from the 14th and 15th centuries but underwent a major restoration in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. The church fell into disrepair in the 20th century but has been taken over and restored as the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

’s Memorial Church following links since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with the nearby airbase RNAS Yeovilton.

History

The original

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

church was built of local

lias Lias may refer to: Geology * Lias Formation, a geologic formation in France *Lias Group, a lithostratigraphic unit in western Europe * Early Jurassic, an epoch People * Godfrey Lias, British author * Mohd Shamsudin Lias (born 1953), Malaysian ...

stone with Hamstone dressings. It was granted by Sir William of Yeovilton to

between 1272 and 1282, who then sold it to

Robert Burnell Robert Burnell (sometimes spelled Robert Burnel;Harding ''England in the Thirteenth Century'' p. 159 c. 1239 – 25 October 1292) was an English bishop who served as Lord Chancellor of England from 1274 to 1292. A native of Shropshire, h ...

the Bishop of Bath and Wells and it eventually became part of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. From 1642 Richard Sterne held the rectory of Yeovilton before going on to become

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

. The rector between 1762 and 1805 was

Daniel Dumaresq Daniel Dumaresq FRS (1712–1805) was an educational consultant to Russian and Polish monarchs. Early life and education Duraresq came from Trinity, Jersey, in the Channel Islands. His father was Jurat Elie Dumaresq (1674-1754), Seigneur of Au ...

after his period as an educational consultant to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n and

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

monarchs. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

contains a 14th-century piscina and some 15th-century

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

has a 15th-century

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

. The vestry was added in 1872, when a major

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proce ...

was undertaken, and the

wagon roof A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

replaced.

Tower and bells

The three stage tower was built in 1486. The money for this was donated by Richard Swan, the rector at the time. It contains six bells, the oldest of which dates from around 1430 and was cast at the

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Bell foundry. The most recent was added in 1993 and was cast at the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...

Fleet Air Arm Memorial Church

In the first half of the 20th century the church was falling into disrepair until after

an association developed with the staff from the nearby RNAS Yeovilton. The churchyard contains 15 graves of British and Commonwealth forces during World War II mostly from the airbase. By 1988 the fabric of the building was considered unsafe and the church declared redundant, and was sold to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

for £1. Restoration work was carried out funded by public donation and, in 1993, the church was reopened as the

’s Memorial Church. The church holds the Fleet Air Arm's Roll of Honour. New porch gates, which were made at HMS Daedalus and carry the emblem of the Fleet Air Arm, have been installed. Within the Fleet Air Arm Memorial Chapel modern stained glass has been installed with the badges of RNAS stations Gannet,

Osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

Heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

, Seahawk and Deadalus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeovilton, Church of Saint Bartholomew 13th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in South Somerset Grade II* listed churches in Somerset Grade II* listed buildings in South Somerset Redundant churches

History

Tower and bells

Fleet Air Arm Memorial Church

See also

References