St Bartholomew's Church is the redundant
Church of England parish church of
Basildon in the English county of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
. It lies in the
hamlet of
Lower Basildon and is now owned by the
Churches Conservation Trust. The church is designated by
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
as a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
Building
The church was built in the late 13th century out of
flint with stone dressings, with an old tiled roof. The west tower of 1734 is of grey brick with red dressings and has three stages. Below the louvred bell stage, containing four bells, is a clock on the south side. The church plan consists of
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 ...
,
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
, south porch and north aisle. The gabled porch is 19th-century, as are the lean-to north aisle and chancel roof of 1876.
In the chancel wall is a 14th-century chest tomb, reused as a monument to
Sir Francis Sykes, who died in 1804 and to his son. There is a 15th-century
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design.
For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
.
Churchyard
The churchyard is notable as the resting place of
Jethro Tull, the 18th-century modernising farmer, whose modern
gravestone can be seen there. He died in 1741 but according to his gravestone, he was buried on 9 March 1740. This apparent confusion is due to the burial date being in the
Old Style.
See also
*
List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in South East England
References
External links
Royal Berkshire History: Basildon Church
Church of England church buildings in Berkshire
Grade I listed churches in Berkshire
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust
Former churches in Berkshire
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