St Bartholomew's Church is a

redundant Redundancy or redundant may refer to: Language * Redundancy (linguistics), information that is expressed more than once Engineering and computer science * Data redundancy, database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more table ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in the village of

Richard's Castle Richard's Castle is a village, castle and two civil parishes on the border of the counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire in England. The Herefordshire part of the parish had a population of 250 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census, ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, England. 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, ...

as a designated 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 ...

, and is under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. 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 () 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 ''Marchia W ...

. The village is partly in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

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

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

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

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property are acquired by some Legal person, person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vest ...

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,

Architecture

Richards Castle - The Old Church - geograph

Exterior

St Bartholomew's is constructed in stone

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

with tile roofs. Its plan consists of a

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 ...

and

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 ...

built in the 12th century, a south

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

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, ci ...

between which are stepped

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 (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es. The middle bay contains a pair of

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

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

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed window and the head of a doorway leading to a

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosur ...

. The churchyard contains the

war grave A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

of a soldier of the Army Service Corps of World War I.

Interior

Inside the church, the south arcade (architecture), 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 (building), canopy. There are fragments of 14th-century glass in many of the windows. In the chancel are six Funerary hatchment, 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 slate 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