St Bartholomew's Church is in the town of

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the

Diocese of Blackburn The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created on 12 November 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool and Burnley, the cities of Lancas ...

. There has been a church on the site since no later than the 12th century although the present building mostly dates from the 16th century. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

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 ...

History

A church has existed on the site from no later than the 12th century and was possibly founded by

Robert de Lacy The honour of Pontefract, also known as the feudal barony of Pontefract, was an English feudal barony. Its origins lie in the grant of a large, compact set of landholdings in Yorkshire, made between the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and the co ...

. The present building mostly dates from the early 16th century although there are traces from the late 12th or early 13th century in the north arcade of 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 ...

. The building probably underwent significant restoration in the 16th century. A font was donated to the church by Lawrence Towneley in 1590. In 1815, repairs were made to the north arcade by Thomas Taylor. The building underwent

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

by E. G. Paley in 1856–57, and a further restoration in 1889–91 by

Paley, Austin and Paley Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under vario ...

. In the latter restoration the north aisle was removed and replaced by a double aisle, an organ chamber and

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially ...

were added, the church was reseated, and screens, choir stalls, a pulpit and an altar were added; this restoration cost nearly £7,000 (equivalent to £ in ). In 1988 the church was designated a Grade I

. The Grade I listing is for buildings "of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important".

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed of wrought stone in the

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

and Late Perpendicular styles. Its plan consists of a nave with a south and a double north aisle, a chancel, chapels to the north and south of the chancel, vestries, an organ chamber and a tower to the west. There is a porch to the south. The south windows are straight-headed with four arched lights; the clerestory has three-light windows. The five-light east window has cinquefoil heads and rectilinear

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

. The north aisle has two- and three-light windows. The tower is high. It has square

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es of four stages at the western corners. The three-light belfry windows are pointed and transomed, with tracery in their heads. The tower

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

crenellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

with

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

s below, to the north and south. The doorway to the tower has a pointed head. The porch to the south has a

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

in its

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

, and a sundial in place of a finial. Its entrance has a pointed arch and chamfered orders. Inside there is a stone bench on either side of the entrance.

Interior and fittings

St Bartholomew's Parish Church, Colne, Font - geograph

The nave measures by . The north and south arcades have four bays; the north has round

pier Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...

s with moulded bases and capitals and the south has octagonal columns, also with moulded bases and capitals. There is an inner and an outer aisle to the north, separated from each other by an arcade of four pointed arches and octagonal piers. The font is octagonal with concave sides, each featuring a shield. The shields contain symbols of the Passion and the initials of Lawrence Towneley. The pulpit is constructed of oak on a stone base. The chancel measures by . It has a narrow opening into the north aisle. Its arcades to the north and south have octagonal piers and three pointed arches of two chamfered orders. The Banastre chapel to the north, and the Barnside chapel to the south, are both separated from the aisles by oak screens. The tower has a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of eight bells. Six of them date from 1814, cast by

Thomas Mears Thomas Mears (1775 – October 16, 1832) was a businessman and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in the Thirteen Colonies in 1775. He settled in West Hawkesbury Township. He set up a sawmill and gristmill on the Ottawa River in th ...

of London. The remaining two were given to the church in 1900 by Thomas Hyde of Colne.

Churchyard

The churchyard lies mostly to the south of the church. The oldest dated gravestone is from 1606. There is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

stone cross to the south-east of the building. It consists of a square block topped with an octagonal shaft and an octagonal block. The cross has a Grade II listing.

References