Towards the end of the reign of Henry 111 an event which centred around the parish church shocked the villagers of Barton in Fabis.

In 1263, its rector was a pluralist absentee, Bartholomew de Agnani by name, and probably one of the hated Italians who at that time swarmed into English livings and dignities. Lenton Priory, asserting that he had died, presented the living to Thomas de Raley. Agnani protested, and appealed to the Pope, who ordered his reinstatement. Armed with the Papal Injunctions, Agnani's proctor met the Lenton Prior at Barton, where in the presence of the latter he was stripped and beaten so severely beside the churchyard that he died. Prior Norman and Raley were summoned to answer at Rome, but failing to appear were excommunicated until they made 'condign' satisfaction in St Paul's Cathedral in the Archdeaconry of Nottingham and other prescribed places.

In one way or another the matter was settled, and subsequently the living remained with Lenton Priory.