Church Of Saint Nicholas

Church of Saint Nicholas

A parish church located on Church Lane, Ulceby, with a west tower and nave flanked by aisles, chancel, and porches on north and south sides. The building dates primarily from the 13th to 15th centuries, though it has undergone significant restoration and alteration over the subsequent centuries.

The tower is constructed of weathered ironstone ashlar with a limestone ashlar parapet and spire. It rises in two stages. The first stage features a tall pointed three-light west window with hoodmould and 19th-century restored Perpendicular tracery, small niche above, and slit windows to north and south with a weathered string course between stages. The second stage contains pointed two-light belfry openings with 19th-century Perpendicular tracery. The tower is topped with a carved corbel table, prominent gargoyles at the angles, an embattled parapet, and a ribbed octagonal spire with finial and weathervane. The tower itself dates to the 13th and 14th centuries, with a 15th-century parapet and spire added later.

The nave, chancel, aisles, and porches are built of squared ironstone and chalk, chalk rubble and brick with limestone ashlar dressings. The south porch is of squared ironstone with ashlar dressings, whilst the north porch is of squared limestone with ashlar dressings. Roofs are slate throughout except for a lead roof to the south aisle. The tower has full-height angle buttresses with set-offs and a moulded plinth.

The three-bay nave has three square-headed two-light trefoiled clerestory windows with hoodmoulds and a coped gable with stump of finial to the east. Brick and rubble infill in the east gable shows the line of the former chancel roof.

The three-bay south aisle has buttresses between bays and at angles. Its windows are pointed three-light openings to the south and east with restored reticulated tracery, hoodmoulds and headstops, and a pointed four-light east window with fine curvilinear tracery, hoodmould and headstops. The south porch, rebuilt in 1876, features buttresses and an ogee-headed outer arch, with a pointed moulded inner arch with hoodmould and restored headstops.

The four-bay north aisle to the nave and chancel includes square-headed three-light windows with hoodmoulds and partly-restored tracery on the north side, and pointed three-light east and west windows with reticulated tracery and hoodmoulds. The north porch, rebuilt in 1856, has a chamfered plinth, buttresses, a pointed double-chamfered outer arch, and stone benches inside. The inner arch is pointed and moulded, with a door fitted with ornate 18th to 19th-century wrought-iron hinges.

The three-bay chancel dates to the 13th century with 14th to 15th-century windows. It has a chamfered plinth and angle buttresses. The south side contains a pointed three-light window with Perpendicular tracery, a pointed three-light window with reticulated tracery, and a small square-headed two-light trefoiled window. The north side has a similar two-light window. The east window is a pointed three-light opening with Perpendicular tracery.

Interior features include nave arcades comprising pointed double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers and responds with plain moulded capitals, chamfered bases and square plinths. The tower arch is pointed and double-chamfered with chamfered jambs; a pointed door and the line of the former nave roof are visible above. A trefoiled piscina is present in the south aisle. The chancel arch is pointed and double-chamfered, springing from keeled responds that may have been re-set, with plain moulded capitals. A very wide chamfered segmental arch to the north chancel arcade, probably of 17th to 18th-century date, is notable. The chancel contains a trefoiled piscina to the south and a pointed aumbry and pointed recess to the north.

A section of a former 15th-century chancel rood screen has been re-set at the east end of the north aisle, comprising single panels flanking a central door with pointed arches and panels below, ornate Perpendicular tracery and fretwork frieze, with 19th-century panels added above. Pews of 1852 incorporate 14th to 15th-century carved bench ends. A 13th-century font of bowl form stands on a cylindrical shaft with stepped plinth.

The building has undergone several campaigns of restoration and alteration. An 1852 restoration was undertaken by Keyworth of Hull. The north porch was rebuilt in 1856, and the south porch in 1876. Restorations in 1878-9 addressed the south aisle and tower openings. The chancel was restored in 1887. The top section of the spire was rebuilt in 1928-9 and repaired again in 1982. Roofs to the north aisle and chancel date to the 19th century; the tower arch shows a 19th-century restoration. A drawing of the church by C Nattes made in 1796 is held in the Banks Collection at Lincoln City Library.