Church Heritage Record 638192

Nave and chancel. Western bellcote. A crypt beneath the chancel has been filled with concrete.

The site of a church since at least 1215. Roman remains including pottery, tesserae, tile and coins were found within a mile of the site. The remains of an ancient chapel were discovered within a mile of the site.

The archaeological potential of the site is good. No known burials in the churchyard, which is not consecrated. The Ordination of 1231 (see below) stipulated that “parishioners shall receive in the said chapel all Divine services, except the sepulture of the dead, which shall be made at the mother church”, so the presence of historic burials may also be unlikely. The churchyard contains mature trees.

The following sources are drawn from Godfrey’s Notes on the Churches of Nottinghamshire: Hundred of Bingham, 1907, the best source of information on the chapelry of Barnstone.

An Ordination by Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, dated 1231 makes clear that a Chapel existed at Barnstone prior to 1215. An inventory of church goods was drawn up during the reign of Edward VI: “Barnston ffirste one challis of Siluer wt a cover for the same Also one vestment of Rede Scamell Also one crosse of bras Also one cruet Also ij alt’ clothis Also ij towills Also ij bells Also j candilsticke of bras that standeth of the alter Also one surplis wt slevis.” The chapel was also mentioned in the Parliamentary Commissioners’ Report of 1650. Prior to its rebuilding, the chapel is described in White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Nottinghamshire (1832) as “a small building, with a short tower”; White presumed the chapel at Barnstone to be the remains or successor of the ancient chapel of St Ethelburga reported to have stood in the fields of Langar, but an archaeological excavation in 1961 claimed to have discovered the site of the latter about a mile to the SW (NGR SK 723 336).

The chapel was rebuilt at the expense of Thomas Dickinson Hall, Esq., of Whatton Manor (High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1843) between 1855 and 1857. The cost of the building was £1,200.

The chapel is a small building that stands on a slight mound at a bend in the road. Its (deceptively large) churchyard contains a large number of mature trees, screening it from the road and giving it the appearance of standing in a glade in a wood, to charming effect.

The W façade is the most dynamic, featuring a bellcote with a gabled top surmounted by cross, a “twirligig” window and W door (the sole entrance to the church) – the W window and door, like the other windows with the exception of the chancel lancets, feature hood moulds and label-stops. Other windows are the E, with five roundels, and three pairs of windows in nave, all with Decorated Gothic-style tracery, and a pair of lancets in the chancel.

The nave is of three bays, divided by buttresses, with angle buttresses to E. Chancel also has angle buttresses. Buttresses and gables are stone-coped. The chancel roof is at a lower level to that of the nave. Stumps at apex of nave E and chancel gables suggest lost finials. All facades feature a low plinth; E wall also has a string course and a trefoil opening at its apex.

The present chapel was built 1855-57 on the site of an earlier chapel, no external trace of which remains. The architect of the chapel is not known.

The chapel is entered through a wooden door with iron hinges, simply ornamented. The interior consists of a nave and slightly narrower chancel, also with a slightly lower roof. The interior is relatively gloomy because of surrounding vegetation; the natural light is supplemented by spotlights placed between the rafters at eaves-level. Heating is provided by radiant heaters attached to the nave walls. Aside from a few portable items (see below) nothing apparently survives from the old church. Nave and sanctuary floors are stone flagged, the nave aisle having a carpet runner. A central aisle runs between fixed pews on raised wooden platforms to the chancel. The sanctuary dais has been extended by a wooden platform, of one step. The font is in the SW corner of the nave, opposite a small vestry-enclosure (a wooden frame, with curtains). Attractive exposed roof structure with arched brace trusses. The walls are painted and plastered. Windows in nave have clear leaded glazing to lancets with stained-glass quatrefoil above. Lancets in chancel are patterned, in E window with five roundels above.