GREAT BARROW

Grid Ref. SJ 469 684
12 October 2001, 11 July 2005 & 7 April 2010

St. Bartholomew's, from the Lych Gate		The Lych Gate
View from the South East		Remnants of tower decoration
The Chancel, 2010		War Memorial

There was a church at Barrow from at least the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) when it was given by Robert de Bachepuz to the Knight Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. The manor came into the possession of the Despenser family, who were favourites of Edward II (1307 to 1327). Hugh Despenser, Earl of Winchester, presented the first known incumbent of Barrow to the living. Hugh was executed and Edward III gave the manor to the Swinnerton Family. The church remained a chapel, possibly subsidiary to Tarvin, until the reign of Elizabeth I, when it became the church for an independent parish. According to to Raymond Richards in Old Cheshire Churches, the church in the 18th century was in a poor condition from the descriptions of earlier historians and contemporary reports. In 1883, the nave and aisle were rebuilt in late Perpendicular style. The tower was built in 1744 and was formerly decorated with urns, which were removed in 1929 and placed at the foot of the tower. The oldest part of the church is the chancel, built in 1671 by Dr. Henry Bridgman who was Rector of Barrow and also Dean of Chester and Lord Bishop of Man. The chancel was re-roofed and repaired by Hugh Cholmondeley, Rector of Harthill and Barrow and Dean of Chester, in 1807. The parish registers begin in 1572 and the churchwardens' accounts in 1857. The list of incumbents begins with Osbert Gifford in 1313.

The Lych gate has an inscription showing that it was the gift of parishioners to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria on June 20th 1897.

Sources

Old Cheshire Churches, with a supplementary survey of the lesser old chapels of Cheshire, completely revised and enlarged by Raymond Richards, first published in 1947 and reprinted by E. J. Morten, Didsbury, 1973.