In 1268, the Archbishop of York advised the Dean of Nottingham that 'certain sons of Satan had set fire to Barton Church and broken into it.' He was also ordered to excommunicate the offenders 'lest he should become partner of these sacrilegious persons if their audacity remained unpunished.'

Come 1346, a great flood wrecked the fire-damaged church. Remains existing in the present structure suggest that when the shock of the Black Death was over, a new church was erected near the end of the 14th century.