About

St Bartholomew's is Grade II Listed and is a fine example of Victorian Gothic church architecture. The church was built in 1850 by Sarah Leigh in memory of her father, the Revd. Thomas Leigh who was Rector from 1803 to 1843.  The church was designed by Ewin Christian and is built of Kentish Ragstone and Caen stone. It replaces the redundant St Peter's church to the west, over the disused railway line, now a stained glass designer's studio.

Above the altar is the east window, erected in memory of a former Rector, Canon Alfred Snell. It is a particularly fine example of stained glass showing the nativity of our Lord.  Behind the altar are six gloriously painted and gilded wooden panels depicting saints and angels. The Lady Chapel has a relic of the old church of St Peter, a Piscina, beside the altar (a Piscina  is a basin with drain for washing Communion vessels and disposing of ashes, after Ash Wed ashing). In the chancel beyond the solid brass lectern on the north wall is a copy of Botticelli's 'The Madonna of the Magnificat'.

The spire is 120 feet high and is a local landmark visible from the A12, from the other side of Witham and from the River Blackwater.  The church clock was presented to the parish by the daughters of Thomas Butler Dixon in 1911 in memory of their father.

In the churychyard you will find three Commonwealth War Graves: Leading Signalman Edward Peacok from HMS Cyclops and John Garden Seth-Smith, a Flight Lt in the RAF who died in the Second World War, and Private James Bridgman of the Essex Rwegiment from the First World War.