Church Of Saint Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a parish church with a complex history, dating back to the 13th century or earlier. It underwent significant rebuilding between 1578 and 1580, including the chancel, and further substantial alterations in the early 19th century and a restoration in 1889 by C.H. Fowler of Durham.

The church is constructed from red brick for the tower, with ashlar dressings, limestone ashlar and coursed rubble for the nave, and brick and ashlar for the vestry and chancel. The roofs are slate. The church is situated on a steep hillside. The nave, re-aligned north-south in 1889, features a northeast tower, an adjoining east vestry (the former chancel), a west porch, and a single-bay south chancel.

The nave has 19th-century buttresses on the north side, and three 19th-century lancet windows on the west side, incorporating original masonry. A re-set four-centred arch window with Perpendicular tracery fills the east wall. A pointed three-light north window with Perpendicular tracery, re-set in the 19th century above a blocked doorway, is flanked by similar lancets (one incorporating re-used medieval masonry). A cornice and coped parapet tops the nave. The vestry, set into the angle between the tower and nave, has a re-set segmental-pointed two-light cinquefoiled east window with hoodmould, a 19th-century pointed two-light window, and a blocked square-headed opening to the south.

The two-stage tower has a plinth and a diagonal buttress to the east. The first stage features a pointed, chamfered west door with a re-set hoodmould and crude headstops, an east slit window, and a plain string course. The second stage has square-headed, two-light ashlar openings to the north and south, the latter blocked. Pointed belfry openings are set above a brick band, and the tower is topped with a low, stone-coped embattled parapet with plain angle pinnacles. The west porch has quoins to the lower section and brickwork above. The outer arch is a re-set 14th-century pointed, double-chamfered arch with a hoodmould and headstops. A re-set 11th-century tympanum is located above, featuring a relief carving of a bishop with a staff, flanked by crosses in roundels. The inner arch is a pointed, hollow-chamfered arch.

Internally, a restored pointed, hollow-chamfered former chancel arch leads east, featuring octagonal responds with plain moulded capitals and bases. A 19th-century pointed double-chamfered chancel arch is also present. The church also contains a 19th-century font and other fittings.