Spotlight on Local History with James Balme
Thirty miles to the south of Warrington deep in the heart of Cheshire and close to the border of Shropshire is the stunningly beautiful village of Barthomley. Mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086 AD the village was referred to as Bertemleu.
The village had strong links with the Crewe family from the 14th century onwards and it was Ranulph Crewe who built Crewe hall between 1615 to 1636 just two and a half miles away.
But it was the tragic events of Christmas 1643 that was to put the village of Barthomley into the pages of history and today the village is remembered for what became known as the ‘Barthomley Massacre’.
Standing on high ground known as Barrow Hill and overlooking the village is an ancient church dedicated to St Bertoline, an 8th century prince who became a hermit following the death of his beautiful wife.
A Norman church was believed to have stood on this site built by the lords of the manor during the 12th century before being rebuilt again during the 15th century, however today all that remains of the Norman church is a Norman doorway reconstructed into the church during the 19th century.
But it’s the church tower built in the late 15th century that tells an horrific story of massacre that took place here and carried out by Royalist troops during the English Civil War.
It was a cold day on the eve of Christmas 1643 when Royalist troops entered the village after plundering the surrounding countryside. Twenty men from the village took refuge in the church in the hope of gaining protection from the troops, however Major Connought and his Royalist men took control of the church. In blind panic the twenty men took to the tower and steeple climbing high up in the hope of escaping the soldiers. Immediately the troops began to pile up benches, mats, rushes and anything flammable that they could lay their hands upon and placed these at base of the tower. These were quickly lit and within minutes thick smoke began to bellow upwards into the tower where the twenty villagers were hiding. The men began to plead for their lives as the smoke and flames rose ever higher. Major Connought decided that the men could come down safely and they duly descended the tower, however once Connought had control of the twenty men he stripped them naked before putting twelve of them to the sword murdering them in cold blood, this was against the laws of Arms and Nations.
But Major Connought didn’t stop there and not only did he slit the throat of one Mr John Fowler he then took his troops back into the village to plunder for the following two days.
At the end of the Civil war this tragic event wasn’t forgotten and had King Charles decided to plead at his trial at Westminster Hall then the events here at Barthomley would most certainly have been one of the charges brought against the King. There’s no doubt that the events that took place here in 1643 reflect a very dark period in British history.
If you visit St Bertoline’s church for yourself then make sure that you take a look inside for it is here that you will find the Crewe chapel built by Sir Ranulph Crewe in 1608. Inside the chapel you will find stone effigies and tombs dating from the 14th, 16th and 19th centuries. My film, Murder in the name of the King, shot at Barthomley can be viewed for free with many other local history films by visiting my channel, youtube.com/@Tvpresenter4history.
