Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

Parish church of late 13th-century origin, restored by J.L. Pearson in 1882. The building is constructed of coursed cobblestone with limestone dressing and Swithland slate roofs. It comprises an aisleless nave with transepts and chancel, with a western bell cote.

The west bellcote sits above a buttressed west end and contains paired openings with a quatrefoil above. Although restored by Pearson, the gable apex is filled with coursed and squared limestone dated 1716. The west window, a 3-light lancet pierced in ashlar surround, is Pearson's work. A sill course below the west window continues throughout the building.

The south porch retains much medieval fabric. The coped gable was rebuilt and the outer arch restored in 1882, but the arch responds appear original. The inner door has a double hollow chamfered archway with a hood mould in Pearson's style. Square porch windows have mutilated corbel heads to the hood mould. The coped transept gable was also restored by Pearson and given a triple lancet window. The chancel has a similar triple lancet window, while the priests' door and south-east window are medieval. The south-east window is a 15th-century insertion, a square-headed window with three ogivally arched lights. The east window comprises three lancet lights set in an ashlar surround, with trefoils pierced in the spandrels. The north elevation is blank except for a three-light transept window and a north doorway, a Victorian addition.

Inside, the nave is wide and spacious with bare cobblestone walls and a moulded ashlar cornice. Evidence of a former piscina survives alongside the tall south doorway, which has corbel heads to its hood mould. Double chamfered transept arches rise from cylindrical shafts, with the outer chamfer continuing to floor level where there is an elaborate chamfer stop. In the south transept, a two-centred arched piscina beneath the window is richly moulded. On the west wall of the south transept is a length of 17th-century oak panelling said to have come from the Manor House at Knaptoft. The piscina in the west wall of the north transept has a trefoiled arch and hood mould with corbel heads.

There is no chancel arch; instead, a slight change in level is marked by a wooden screen made by Pearson from old oak, simply worked in medieval craft tradition. It features six narrow trefoiled arches and a wider central arch above which is a simple cross.

Two wall memorials occupy the chancel. On the north wall is a tablet to the Reverend James Tindall (died 1852), a Gothic work with an ogee arch inscription flanked and capped by pinnacles with fleurons. The south wall bears a painted wood tablet in late medieval style commemorating Henry Green, the Rector responsible for Pearson's restoration work.

An unusual late 19th-century painted wood reredos features four panels in reds and blues with floral and heart-like emblems and birds among branches. The font is late 13th-century, octagonal with trefoiled panels, mounted on a Victorian base. Stained glass in the chancel east and south-east windows is from the same studio; only the south-east window is dated (1891), depicting scenes from the life of Mary, while the east window shows scenes from the life of Christ, predominantly in blues and yellows.

Pearson designed fine roof construction throughout. Four principal trusses of crown post construction are braced laterally and longitudinally with boarding between many secondary rafters. Where transept roofs join, a dormer effect is produced; these roofs have secondary rafters with struts and ties. Above the altar, the two eastern bays are coved with ribs, forming a type of wagon roof with herringbone short planking.