St Bartholomew's Church is a redundant

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the village of Richard's Castle, Herefordshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It stands close to the castle of the same name as the village, which was built to command this part of the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...

. The village is partly in Shropshire and the county boundary is not far from the church. Notably, the tower is detached from the main body of the church, and stands about to its east.

History

The church dates from the 12th century. It was extended early in the 14th century, and again in the early 15th century, and

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in the late 19th century. The church was declared redundant on 1 August 1982, and was

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in the Churches Conservation Trust on 30 March 2001. The village continues to be served by the Church of England with the All Saints church at Batchcott, Shropshire.

Architecture

Richards Castle - The Old Church - geograph

Exterior

St Bartholomew's is constructed in stone rubble with tile roofs. Its plan consists of a nave and chancel built in the 12th century, a south aisle and a north chapel built in the 14th century, and a south porch of the 15th century. The south aisle is in three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

between which are stepped buttresses. The middle bay contains a pair of

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s. In the easternmost of the bays has a two-light window, and in the western bay is the south doorway. The porch is arched, and in each side of it are two-light windows. The west window of the aisle consists of two lancets, and at the east end is a three-light window. The west window of the nave has four lights. On the north wall are two buttresses, and it contains two 12th-century round-headed windows, one of which is partly obscured by a buttress. The chapel has a four-light north window, and three-light windows on the east and west sides. The south wall of the chancel is in three bays. It contains a priest's door, with a two-light window on each side. The east window has four lights, and below it are a two-light mullioned window and the head of a doorway leading to a vault. The churchyard contains the war grave of a soldier of the Army Service Corps of World War I.

Interior

Inside the church, the south arcade has three bays and the arcade between the chancel and the chapel has two bays. In the south wall of the aisle is a piscina, and against its west wall is a 13th-century coffin lid inscribed with a foliated cross. Under the north window of the chapel is a tomb recess. In the nave and aisle are box pews from the 17th century. Elsewhere in the church are benches, and there is an 18th-century family pew in the chapel under a canopy. There are fragments of 14th-century glass in many of the windows. In the chancel are six hatchments on the walls, and 18th-century memorial slabs on the floor. In the south west end there is a font which appears to be from the Herefordshire Romanesque Sculpture school apparently representing four horned rams The font is very worn and seems to have been outside for a considerable time p

Tower

To the east of the church is a detached tower dating from the 14th century. Some restoration was carried out on it during the 19th century. It has a square plan and is surmounted by a

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pyramidal roof with a weathervane. The tower is in three stages. In the lowest stage is an arched entrance on the west side. There are square-headed windows in the east and south sides in both the lowest and the middle stages. The upper stage contains two-light arched bell openings on the north, south and east sides. The tower has been designated separately as a Grade I listed building.

References