St Bartholomew’s Church, Welby

Welcome to St Bartholomew´s Church Welby

St Bartholomew’s Church LE14 3JL is situated about two miles north of the centre of Melton Mowbray, off the A606 Nottingham Road off St Bartholomew’s Way.   The Deputy Wardens caring for the Church are Mr Colin Beavis and Mr Peter Franklin see our contact’s page.

Services are on the first and third Sunday of every month at 3pm. See our Calender for the next service.  You will be most welcome to attend.  Special Services and are on our Services page and also in Calendar.

    Flower

    Exterior Picture by Paul Reece

    HISTORY

    The church probably dates from the time of the first Roger de Mowbray in the latter part of the 12th century. It consists of a nave, chancel and porch with a small tower, most of which is built of nearby sandstone.

    The east window is large for the size of the building. The ancient glass of the windows, of which considerable remains still existed in the 18th century, was later removed to form part of the assembly of ancient glass in St Mary’s Church Melton Mowbray.

    There is in this church an interesting piece of old carved woodwork in the form of a pulpit and reading desk and a screen surrounding, which is most probably by its appearance of Elizabethan or early Jacobean times.

    No precise record of the finding of the Welby hoard, pictured, has survived, but there seems to be no reason to doubt that it was a genuine discovery. The hoard was deposited in the Leicester Museum in 1919 by Mrs. 0. C. Hocart, and the museum records state that the discovery was made about 1875 when a farmer was digging for gravel in Welby parish.

    There is a field in this parish known as the Gravelholefield, and it seems likely that this was the find spot as gravel deposits do not seem to be known elsewhere in the parish. Unfortunately, only a proportion of the hoard survived, as the farmer took it to be melted down at a local foundry. Luckily, local resident Mr W. S. Barnes witnessed this and purchased and rescued the remaining finds.

    To find out more click here and for a Medieval map of Welby click here.