A picturesque abandoned Cotswold church which has been the subject of speculation after a failed bid to convert it into a home may now have a new lease of life after it returned to the market with a guide price of £300,000.

St Bartholemew's Church in the isolated parish of Newington Bagpath, near Wotton-under-Edge, was closed to worshippers in 1978 and began to fall into decay since that date.

Believed to date back to the 12th century, the Grade II-listed Anglican church also saw architectural additions by the famed Victorian architect SS Teulon, the Gothic revivalist whose residing signature was polychrome brickwork.

After it was deconsecrated in 1990, the new owner, indicated as a Mrs Meredith in Herefordshire, made a bid to convert the property into a one-bedroom home. But access issues to the main entrance, given the plot's encirclement by private farmland, led to the project being dropped.

Hope of conversion was resurrected in 2013 though, with revised plans submitted again to Cotswold District Council and full permission was given that year for the work to go ahead. However, Punchline-Gloucester.com understands the access issue has remained.

With a three-year caveat for work to commence, the permission expired in 2016.

Savills, the agent marketing the address from its Cirencester office, said it represents an "exciting opportunity to purchase a redundant Grade II listed Anglican church with full planning".

The agent added that the property has a plot of 0.61 acres and "benefits from full planning permission to convert into a single residential dwelling".

In 2020, the website 28DaysLater, whose "Urban Explorers" collate forgotten and abandoned addresses with photographs and information reported an ongoing access issue and said it was unable to gain images of the interior.

Punchline-Gloucester.com has approached Savills for clarification.