This ancient stone cross, which now stands near the eastern gate into the churchyard, may be evidence of Christian worship on this site long before the building of any actual church. In 684 A.D. a religious assembly took place here for the election of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne to be bishop, perhaps in a church of wood and wattles. There is a record of the consecration of a church at Whittingham in 735 A.D. This is assumed to be a stone building. The earliest existing stonework dates from about 900 A.D. and is most clearly seen in the lower half of the tower.

Within the church a Saxon arch leads into the tower and Saxon stonework is seen on the north aisle wall.

The twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries all saw changes to the architecture of the church. The Normans added a north aisle and arcade in the twelfth century. During the thirteenth century the existing south aisle with an arcade of octagonal pillars was added. In 1840 the square Saxon top of the tower was destroyed and replaced with a taller one with pinnacles and a copy of the thirteenth century south arcade replaced the Norman north arcade. In 1871 the chancel of 1730 was replaced with a higher one, a pointed arch entrance and a decorative east window.

Impressive features of St Bartholomew’s interior are the six exceptionally well-preserved hatchments hanging within the church. These are black-edged, six-foot, diamond shaped paintings representing heraldic insignia. Each commemorates some arms-bearing person after whose death it was put onto the house wall for several months before final placement in the parish church of the deceased. Those in St Bartholomew’s commemorate members of local families, three for Liddells of Eslington (Lords Ravensworth), two for Hargraves of Shawdon and one for an Atkinson of Lorbottle. They date from 1784 to 1855.

This hatchment commemorates Thomas Liddell, Baron Ravensworth, who died in 1855.

A Visitors’ Guide is available in the church and may be purchased for £1.50. A booklet explaining the hatchments in the church and introducing the study of heraldry more generally is currently in preparation.