The church was Listed in 1955 as Grade I. As well as the specific displays for village buildings there were numerous flower arrangements without a specific theme but designed to enhance features of the church building.

Vestry - Courtesy of Tony Stokes

About the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Bardwell

The Church is the largest in the neighbourhood and the  most prominent building in the village. It lies on the western edge of the main centre of population.  Bardwell had a church with 8 acres of land in the Domesday Book, which also recorded the 3 manors in Bardwell.   However, the current Grade I listed building dates from the late 1300s to early 1400s.  Indeed the roof is dated 1421.  The tower and porch are from the same period but the chancel was almost completely rebuilt and its floor lowered in 1853.

Altar - Courtesy of Tony Stokes

The Church stands on high ground overlooking the valley of the River Blackbourne, and is surrounded by a church yard of about 2.5 acres which is carefully maintained to provide not only access to graves but also provide a habitat to encourage wild flora and fauna.  The churchyard includes the gravestone of Henry Addison VC among a number of notable memorials.  

Externally, the Church is dominated by its flint and rubble tower some 87 feet high to the parapet, and the tower is surmounted by a small spire and weathervane, overall over 100 feet high.  The tower roof and spire are lead covered.  A belfry has a medieval oak bell frame which originally housed four bells, but has been cut and modified to hang the existing six bells, five of which were cast in the 1700s and one in 1935.  The frame moves unduly during ringing and severe restrictions on the duration and frequency of ringing have to be maintained.   A spiral staircase gives access from the vestry at ground level in the tower to both the ringing chamber and the belfry. A clock dating from the C17th (best estimate 1680), and of considerable horological interest, is mounted on a half-width floor between the belfry and the ringing chamber with the clock face on the south face of the tower level with the belfry.  It has a mechanism to enable it to sound the hours but this has had to be disconnected.

Nave - Courtesy of Tony Stokes

The lofty nave has a central aisle with C19th pews either side, graced with 100 kneelers colourfully embroidered in the 1970s, each one with a unique Bardwell-related design.  Most of the leaded nave windows have clear glass, but the four nearest to the chancel have stained glass:  the pair on the north side is medieval and of particular significance, one depicting the Church’s great benefactor, Sir William de Berdewell (1367 – 1434), whereas the pair on the south side, together with those in the chancel itself date from the C19th.  On the walls can be seen two partial wall paintings, one on the north wall which has been the subject of conservation work and one behind the pulpit.  In addition there are five consecration crosses on the north and south walls.   However, in addition, five medieval wall paintings were covered up with distemper in the C19th and copies are available in the Bury Record Office; there is no current intention of uncovering them, but care needs to be taken that they are not damaged by any work on the walls.  However, the nave’s principal attraction is its magnificent hammer beam roof dating from 1421, with original decorative paintwork.  Sadly, only four of the carved figures originally fitted to the ends of the hammer beams remain (one of them giving the precise date of the roof), but there are 29 carved and painted bosses which are of similar merit, as well as an incomplete set of painted shields mounted between the carved wall plates and the roof.  Externally the roof is covered with Westmorland slate and there was a major renovation in 2005;  at the same time some of the roof timbers, including two hammerbeams were treated and reinforced. In the nave can also be seen two loose carved panels from the former rood screen, two squints either side of the chancel arch, an aumbry in the north wall, and a piscine adjacent to the door which gives access to the stairs to the former rood loft.   The organ, by Bishops of Ipswich, dates from 1909.  The current octagonal font is probably medieval, but there is also an earlier font lying by the south door which is reputed to have been found many years ago in the meadows below the Church by the River Blackbourn. 

Font - Courtesy of Tony Stokes

As is often the case, particular care was lavished on the construction of the porch, which has fine flintwork niches with carved figures and coats of arms of the de Berdewell and de Pakenham families.

The chancel dates from medieval times, but was the subject of a major renovation in the mid-C19th and has some interesting Crofts Reade memorials from C17th and C18th set into its walls.  The chancel roof is unremarkable internally, and is covered externally with Welsh slate, completely renewed in 2005. 

For more information please visit the Bardwell Church minisite.