St Bartholomew's Church, Holton
St. Bartholomew's Church in Holton is a small cruciform building without aisles, with a western tower, originally built in the 12th century but mainly rebuilt in the 14th. The transept and chancel arches, as well as the northern door of the nave, are Romanesque; the latter is decorated with zigzag and dog-tooth ornamentation and probably dates from the late 12th century. The chancel was rebuilt in the late 13th or early 14th century with an eastern window of three lights, and two southern windows, one of one light and one of two lights; there is also a small piscina of the same date. The northern transept has a Romanesque and a 14th-century window. The nave, which has two square-headed windows, was restored in the mid-15th century, probably by William Brome who also rebuilt the southern transept, now known as the Brome chapel. A brass to his memory is inscribed: 'Hic jacet Willielmus Brome qui hanc capellam fieri fecit et multa bona huic ecclesie erogavit et obiit . . . anno domini mcccclxi.' The western tower dates from the 15th century; the tower arch is pointed and recessed, the inner arch resting on carved corbels. In the middle of the 19th century the church was extensively restored. In 1844 the western gallery was rebuilt and enlarged, a small western window added, and the staircase moved from inside to outside the tower. The nave was fitted with new pews, the roof receiled. In the following year Elizabeth Dorothy Biscoe paid for the rebuilding of the walls of the northern transept; and Mr. and Mrs. Earle for the restoration of the southern transept and for fitting a new window. At the beginning of the 19th century a mausoleum was built by Elisha Biscoe in place of a small room at the base of the tower. This was pulled down in 1886 and the present vestry was built. Until 1860 there was no organ; music was provided by an orchestra in the gallery, consisting of fiddle, 'cello, and clarinet. In 1868 the eastern wall of the chancel was rebuilt, and a new roof that revealed the old rafters was put up for £60. There is a large 15th-century stone font. In the western window of the tower are some fragments of old glass which depict the quartered arms of Brome and Baldington. The Brome chapel contains memorials to the Bromes: a marble monument, surmounted by the Brome quarterings, to Sir John Brome (d. 1558) and his wife, and to their son Sir Christopher (d. 1589) and his wife; also two brasses, one to William Brome (d. 1461) and another to William Brome, a child (d. 1599). In the chancel there is an inscription to the brother-in-law of the last of these, Sir Thomas Whorwood (d. 1634), and another to his daughter Elizabeth (d. 1633). A widow, the 'worshipful' Elizabeth Brome, left money for a pulpit, erected in 1639 and now removed. John Elstone (d. 1669) and his wife are also commemorated, but their connexion with the parish is otherwise unknown. In the northern transept there is a monument to George Schutz of Shotover (d. 1764). There are also numerous 19th-century monuments to the Biscoe family. The Edwardian inventory of 1552 shows that Holton church was poorly furnished; its one chalice was surrendered to the Crown in the following year, and it was left with a latten cross, a pair of brass candlesticks, one pyx of brass and one of latten; one red damask vestment, two old ones, and one red, and one blue silk cope. In the 19th century Mary Cheney, sister of the local school-master, gave a communion cup. In 1953 the plate included an Elizabethan silver chalice given by Lady Pusey in 1839, another dated 1606, and a richly ornamented one-handled German tankard of late-17th-century date, once used as a flagon; a Cromwellian saucer and a plain silver paten dated 1714. There is a ring of three bells. The treble, dating from 1662, is the work of Richard Keene of Woodstock and the second is a fine medieval one. The following registers exist: baptisms, marriages and burials (1633–1784); marriages (1763–5, 1796– 1811, 1813–34, 1837 onwards); baptisms and burials (1813 onwards). Historical information about St. Bartholomew's Church is provided by 'Parishes: Holton ', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 5, Bullingdon Hundred, ed. Mary D Lobel (London, 1957), pp. 168-177. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol5/pp168-177 [accessed 20 March 2023]. St. Bartholomew's Church is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST BARTHOLOMEW, Holton - 1047596 | Historic England. For more information about St. Bartholomew's Church see Parishes: Holton | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk). |
