St Bartholomew's Chapel (Bartlemas Chapel)

Former pilgrim chapel visited by students on Ascension Day‍

Highlights

• Pilgrim chapel

This small chapel has seen a revival in recent years, though nothing to compare with its former life as a pilgrims’ shrine and leper hospital. It now lies at the bottom of a garden, with access to the building only along a short footpath.

The chapel is kept locked, but you can judge its age just by looking at the simple stone walls, built in the 14th century. This chapel has a long history of devotion, once housing a piece of skin of St. Bartholomew and the comb of St. Edward the Confessor, apparently good for curing headaches.It used to be part of a leper hospital complex, the hospital being housed in the adjacent Bartlemas House. There was a holy well nearby. Different records describe it as either a healing pool for ritual bathing or the scene of pagan-style worship, depending on which centuries the authors lived in. It may be that these descriptions relate to two different holy wells, both of which were inaccessible when I visited.

The original healing well was probably a few meters north-east of the chapel, beyond a fish pond visible in the private garden of Bartlemas House. The pagan-style merriment perhaps focused on another natural spring, in the private grounds of Oriel College’s playing fields, which are behind Bartlemas House. It was visited on Ascension Day by the students of New College.

This ancient tradition was revived in 2009 when the choir of New College processed to this well from the chapel on Ascension Day and sang madrigals. Even if you think all holy wells are irredeemably pagan, such ritual is not exactly high druidry. The spring is in the woods on the far side of the cricket pitch, at the end of the lane past the chapel.

The chapel is run by the Anglican church. It has a Wednesday meditation service at midday from April to October and evensong on the last Sunday of the month at 5:15 pm, except for December.

Bartlemas Chapel, Bartlemas, Cowley Rd, Oxford OX4 2AJ‍

cowleystjohn.co.uk/our-sites/bartlemas-chapel‍

W3W: awards.reef.brand

GPS: 51.7454N 1.2269W

The chapel is down a driveway off Cowley Road leading to the Oriel College playing fields. The turning is halfway between Bartlemas Close and Southfield Road, hard to spot but at the end of a long hedge near a bus stop. It is closed to cars, so walk along it for 180m, and the chapel is visible on your right.