Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas, Thorne

This is a church of the 12th to 15th centuries, constructed in rubble and ashlar limestone with lead roofs. The building comprises a west tower overlapped by the aisles, a five-bay nave with a south porch, a lower two-bay chancel with a transeptal south chapel, a north organ chamber, and a vestry.

The Tower

The tower dates to the 13th century. Its tall lower stage is flanked by later buttresses and features a two-light west window with Y-tracery and hoodmould. Above this is a short second stage with a string course positioned both below and above another two-light Y-tracery window. The Perpendicular belfry stage contains paired two-light openings with louvres and shared hoodmoulds. The tower is crowned with an embattled parapet adorned with crocketed pinnacles, a west clock, flagpole, and weathervane.

The Nave and Aisles

The south porch is a 15th-century addition with two storeys, diagonal buttresses, and a Tudor-arched door with hoodmould featuring head-carved bosses. A weathered panel above the door displays the Warenne arms beneath a part-restored oriel window. The porch gable parapet has roll-moulded copings and a string course beneath it. The 13th-century inner door has moulded jambs and dog-tooth ornament to its arch. To the right of the door are a piscina and stone bench.

The south aisle has west angle buttresses with a lancet window. To the right of the porch is a square-headed three-light Perpendicular window, with a buttress between the windows. Bays two and five contain lancet windows, while bay four has a pointed three-light window with a cemented head.

The north aisle features a blocked round-arched north door with a two-light Y-tracery window to its right and lancets to its left.

The clerestorey was heightened in the 15th century using ashlar. It contains four pointed windows to the south and three to the north, all with Y-tracery. Both the aisle and nave parapets resemble the porch, with east pinnacles to the nave.

The Chancel and Chapel

The south chapel has a wave-moulded plinth and diagonal buttresses. A segmentally-arched priests' door stands to the left of a large three-light window with plain tracery and hoodmoulds. The chancel to the right has an east angle buttress, a 20th-century external stack, and a restored three-light Perpendicular window. The east window is similar, with restored tracery.

The north organ chamber contains a three-light Perpendicular window, two gargoyles, and an east gable. A lean-to vestry occupies the angle with the chancel and has an east door and window, topped with a stone slate roof.

Interior

The interior features treble-chamfered north and south tower arches, with the east arch double-chamfered and springing from renewed corbels. Double-chamfered half-arches at the west end of each aisle spring from semi-octagonal responds. The nave arcades have cylindrical piers and square capitals supporting double-chamfered arches. The easternmost piers are wallstone columns.

A trefoil-headed piscina is present in the south aisle. The chancel arch is double-chamfered on corbels. The arches opening from the chancel to the north and south are also double-chamfered, with the north arcade comprising two bays on a circular pier.

Remains of 12th-century window surrounds flank the east window, and half of another 12th-century inner arch is visible in the south wall. The chancel roof features moulded tie beams and purlins.

The font, positioned beneath the tower, is octagonal with a broach-stopped base, chamfered shaft, and bowl with moulded rim. The 19th-century fittings include a Gothic-style rood screen with crucifixion. Early 20th-century stained glass by Henry Holiday is also present.

Monuments

A marble wall plaque with vase commemorates Edward Forster (died 1781), erected in 1874 by Fisher of York, and is mounted on a north aisle pier. Late 18th-century wall monuments flank the altar. A slab to William Kent (died 1717) is located on the chancel south wall.