Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

This is a parish church of mixed medieval dates, with the earliest surviving feature being a north doorway dating from around 1200. The main body of the church was built during the 13th century, comprising a nave with arcades and a chancel. The chancel retains some late 14th-century windows. The south aisle was widened in the very early 14th century, with the north aisle following slightly later. A 15th-century west tower and late 15th-century clerestory were subsequently added. The church is constructed of dressed stone with an ashlar tower and lead roofs, except for the chancel which has a tiled roof.

The impressive 15th-century tower rises to 4 or 5 stages, with a chamfered plinth, horizontal strings, offset angled buttresses, and a battlemented parapet decorated with corner finials and carved gargoyles. The bell-chamber features pairs of 2-light traceried openings with drip-moulds. The west face displays a small rectangular window with 2 traceried lights at a central stage, an arched 3-light traceried window below, and a small inserted doorway with a semicircular head. Narrow slit windows light the south-west stairs.

The nave is articulated by a moulded parapet and a 4-bay clerestory with 3-light windows in 4-centred-headed surrounds. Both aisles have moulded parapets, chamfered plinths, sill strings, and offset buttresses. Each aisle displays a 3-light west window, two 3-light windows to its respective flank, and a fine 5-light east window. The south aisle windows feature intersecting tracery, while those of the north aisle are similar but cusped. The north aisle also retains truncated battlements and a doorway with a finely moulded semicircular arch, the shafts having worn capitals. The south door has an early 14th-century pointed arch, finely moulded with a label above.

The gabled south porch, rebuilt in 1946, features a double chamfered arch; the inner order rests on shafts with worn carved capitals, the left displaying stiff-leaf carving and the right cable moulding. Another worn carved stone is reset in the inner walls of the porch.

The chancel was raised and re-roofed in the 16th century. Its west bay retains pairs of narrow 13th-century arched lights, those to the south blocked below a low transom. The windows in the east bay are 14th-century, partly restored, with 3 traceried lights. A blocked north door and a small south door with moulded semicircular arch are present. The east wall of the chancel contains a 20th-century 3-light window with intersecting tracery and a memorial slab to Edward Staples, dated 1697.

Interior

The arch opening to the tower is triple chamfered with moulded imposts. The nave arcades comprise 4 bays with double chamfered arches resting on cylindrical piers with moulded capitals and bases. At each end, the inner order rests on half-piers with a central fillet, except for a later corbel at the north-east corner. The label features restored carved heads.

A fine late 15th-century nave roof exhibits moulded beams, carved spandrels, and carved foliage bosses. The aisle roofs are similar but have plain spandrels. The west wall of the north aisle incorporates part of a rebuilt 12th-century semicircular arch decorated with moulded zig-zag ornament. An aumbry is located in the north wall.

The south aisle contains a piscina with a cusped arch on shafts. The chancel arch is largely obscured by a tympanum of 1704, but retains moulded piers with moulded imposts. The north wall of the chancel features an aumbry, an arched piscina, and triple sedilia with shafts.

Fittings

The fittings are of exceptional quality. A 15th-century rood screen displays elaborate traceried panels with inserted 17th-century balusters. Above it stands a splendid tympanum dated AR 1704, constructed of painted plaster with texts in panels and curtains drawn aside to reveal a magnificent royal coat-of-arms.

The nave contains 2 fifteenth-century benches with poppyhead ends. Four similar bench-ends have been rebuilt into a reading desk and seat, and four more into benches in the south aisle. The south aisle includes a 15th-century parclose screen to its east end, also with traceried panels. The north aisle accommodates 4 eighteenth-century panelled box pews, a mid to late 18th-century 2-decker pulpit, and a large medieval chest with iron straps. The chancel retains mid 17th-century turned wooden altar rails; an altar table of around 1600 has been moved to the south aisle. A scraped circular stone font is possibly 12th-century in date. There is also an 18th-century marble font of baluster type. An organ gallery at the west end of the nave rests on 18th-century wooden columns. The windows contain many fragments of medieval stained glass, though the east window is early 20th-century.

Monuments and Memorials

The chancel contains an exceptionally rich series of monuments. These include a monument to Elizabeth Bainbrigge, dated 1614, with a wooden canopy above; two mid 18th-century marble wall tablets to members of the Bainbrigge family flanking the east window, the left also with a wooden canopy; small 17th-century brass inscription tablets; a tomb chest with the painted marble effigy of Elizabeth Langhan, dated 1501, with small figures of monks adorning the sides; four large 16th-century alabaster slabs with incised figures and inscriptions; and various 18th- and early 19th-century marble wall tablets, mostly commemorating members of the Bainbrigge and Storey families, including one of 1797 with a carved allegorical figure.