St. Bartholomew the Great - Part 3

 

A view along the nave

Leaving the north transept, I continued my exploration of the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great by following the passage that runs behind the organ, which is immediately west of the tower crossing and forms the remaining bay of the nave.

A new scalloped capital in Portland stone

The lighting here is again poor and, although the repairs in Portland stone on the Norman capital can be clearly seen, I was unable to identify the various stones used in the masonry here - except for the nodules of flint.

The passage to the rear of the organ

To the south side of the passage, the blackened scalloped capital and engaged column, which I presume is the original mid C12 Caen stone masonry, still possesses its original detail; however, the stone in the soffit of the arch above it is blistered and laminating.

An original scalloped capital

Entering the tower crossing again from the south transept, I was interested to see that the remains of the east bay of the nave extend up to its original and considerable height and include arches to the triforium and the clerestory.

Remnant arches from the destroyed nave

Turning around to look down the nave, there is no mistaking its typical Norman architectural features, with the very stout round columns and plain round headed arches being decorated with simple billets and no signs of any chevrons.

A view along the nave

On the only archaeological plan that I have seen so far, dating to 1949 and referring to the Victorian transepts as modern, a number of the original columns in the arcades and apse are marked as having been replaced.

The south arcade of the choir with Prior Bolton's oriel window

I didn’t spend any time looking at the stonework closely, but I have assumed that all of the masonry that is still very dirty or has developed a brown patina is the original stone. The restoration undertaken in the last decade of the C19, or work undertaken since, will have used Portland stone that should still look quite clean.

Prior Bolton's window

Halfway down the south arcade is the C16 oriel window by Prior Bolton, who was head of the church between 1505 an 1532 and a capable builder and, further down towards the sanctuary, there is a large tomb of the founder Rahere dating to 1405.

Rahere's tomb

In the apse behind the high altar, the work by Sir Aston Webb clearly stands out from the older stonework, with the unweathered white colour and still crisp details of the Portland stone - which he used extensively during the remodelling of the church.

The apse

In the sanctuary, a combination of mosaic and an unknown calcite veined red marble have been used for the flooring and, for the steps to the altar, Belgian Rouge Royal marble is used with Frosterley Marble – a highly polishable Carboniferous Limestone from Weardale in north-east England, which is full of solitary corals.

The steps to the high altar