Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a parish church dating to 1671-1682, built to replace an earlier church destroyed during the Civil War. The east end was added in 1699, with subsequent south aisle construction in 1756 and a north aisle in 1783. Early 19th-century alterations were made, followed by an interior remodelling in 1863. Restorations occurred in 1906 to the tower and in 1959 to the chancel. The church is built of red brick with ashlar dressings and has copper and slate roofs. Key features include a plinth, quoins, and parapets.

The church’s plan comprises a chancel, vestry, organ chamber, nave, aisles, and a west tower. The chancel has a crenellated parapet and a cross-mullioned east window of five lights, with a similar three-light window to the south. The south-facing vestry has a steeply gabled roof and features an east-facing three-light window with elliptical arches, and a smaller three-light window to the south. The north-facing organ chamber is windowless and gabled. The nave’s east gable contains a round-arched three-light window. The aisles have five bays each, with round-arched windows of three lights, each with keystones. The north aisle's parapet is crenellated, and it contains chamfered pointed arched doorways in the second and fifth bays - the fifth window having been reduced to a fanlight.

The west tower is square and unbuttressed, with three stages, string courses, and corner pedestals to the parapet. A cross-mullioned window of four lights is present on the west side, and the second stage contains a clock to the north. The bell stage has traceried two-light bell openings.

The interior is rendered and features scissor braced roofs to the nave and cross beam roofs to the aisles, with arch braces. The chancel exhibits a coffered elliptical arch, a two-panel ceiling with dentillated borders and roundels, a cross beam resting on scroll brackets, panelled wainscotting, all of 18th-century origin. The east window contains stained glass installed in 1913. A round arch provides access to the organ chamber (north side), and a doorway is present on the south side. The nave has arcades with Tuscan columns (four bays), and a round arch at the west end. The south aisle includes a stained glass window dating to circa 1920, and a gallery at the west end. The north aisle has a round arch to the east. The tower chamber has a coved barrel vault with wooden ribs, panelled wainscotting, and a door to the gallery.

Fittings include an inlaid octagonal wooden pulpit from 1783 and a reused late 17th-century communion rail. The remainder of the fittings are 20th-century. Memorials consist of a tablet dated 1717, obelisk tablets from 1739 and 1749, 18th-century brasses, and a war memorial brass from circa 1920.