The small village of Whittington lies 4 miles ESE of Cheltenham on the edge of the Cotswolds. The church is sited about 2m from the manor house on level ground. The building consists of a chancel with S chapel, nave with narrow S aisle, N porch and a vestry in the angle between the chapel and aisle. The E arch of the two-bay nave arcade dates to the 12thc. The aisle was originally wider, and there is a blocked round headed opening in the W wall of the aisle which also probably dates to the 12thc. When the vestry was constructed in the 19thc., Romanesque sculpture was built into the exterior of its W wall.

In 1269 the church was held by the local knight, Richard de Croupes (Willis Bund 1902, i. 33), and his descendants remained in possession throughout the medieval period. In 1318 the church is referred to as a chapel (Harold Pearce 1930, 230). Its medieval dedication remains unclear, and the church was rededicated to St Bartholomew by the 1920s, but in 1750 the dedication was to St Michael---an appropriate saint for an estate chapel (Herbert 2001). The de Croupes family had been in possession of the manor since before the 1160s; the manor of Whittington may even have been the caput of their honour in Gloucestershire (Clay 1944, 129--30). The Domesday return for Gloucestershire records that the manor was held by William Leuric; a share of his estates subsequently passed to the de Croupes family before the 1160s. The builder of the 12thc. church was most likely an early member of the de Croupes family, possibly the Robert de Croupes active in the 1160s. The manor house dates from the 16thc., but probably replaced an earlier seigneurial residence. The proximity of the church to the manor house certainly testifies to the close relationship between the church and the lords of the estate.