Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas, Partney

Parish church dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, with significant Victorian restoration and later modifications. The chancel was rebuilt in 1828, while the nave, aisles and porch were rebuilt and constructed around 1862 by architect C. E. Giles. The tower was partially rebuilt in 1910. The building is constructed in ashlar with a dressed greenstone tower and red brick, with slate roofs featuring coped gables.

The church comprises a tower, nave, aisles, south porch, north vestry and chancel. A single ridge crosses to the porch, east nave and east chancel, with a single stack serving the south chancel. The building sits on a plinth, chamfered at the tower and north aisle, and moulded at the south aisle and porch. The aisles are buttressed.

The 15th-century tower stands in four stages with moulded bands, including one over the plinth. It is topped with a parapet and single corner gargoyles and finials. The west side features an ogee-arched moulded doorway with hood mould and human head label stops, above which is a single 15th-century arched 4-light window with cusped panel tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. Above this is a single arched and cusped light. The north and south sides have single similar lights; the south side additionally features a single clock face below and four rectangular stair lights. Four arched 15th-century bell chamber openings contain 3-light features with cusped panel tracery, hood moulds and worn label stops.

The west wall of the north aisle contains a single 14th-century arched 3-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and label stops. The north wall has two heavily restored arched 2-light 14th-century windows with flowing tracery, 19th-century hood moulds and label stops. To the left is a single restored 14th-century window with three ogee-arched and cusped lights and tracery under a flat arch with hood mould. On the far left is a single segmental-arched restored 14th-century window with three ogee-arched and cusped lights, tracery and hood mould. A 15th-century clerestory comprises four arched 2-light windows with cusped tracery. In the apex of the east nave is a single roundel.

The 19th-century vestry projecting from the east wall of the north aisle has a pointed-arched doorway in its north wall, while the east wall contains a single arched 2-light window. The north wall of the 19th-century chancel is patched under the eaves with brick. The east chancel, constructed in brick with clasping buttresses topped by single ashlar finials, features a coped gable terminating in single small carved human heads, with an ashlar band following the line of the gable. It contains a single arched re-used ashlar 5-light 15th-century window with single transom, featuring ogee-arched and cusped lights and quatrefoils below, and ogee-arched and cusped lights and tracery above. The south wall has a similar finial to the west and an ashlar band extending under the eaves, with a single ashlar and brick blind arched panel.

The east wall of the south aisle has a single arched 3-light 14th-century window with cusped tracery, hood mould and label stops. The south wall features a single restored segmental-arched 3-light 14th-century window with cusped tracery, hood mould and label stops. To the left is a single restored 3-light 14th-century window with reticulated tracery under a flat arch, with hood mould and label stops.

The 19th-century gabled porch with parapet, decorated to the south side, has single angle finials and a moulded arched entrance with hood mould and human head label stops. Each side wall has three trefoil-arched lights. The inner 14th-century moulded ogee-arched doorway features hood mould, human head label stops and finial, with a carved statuette above. To the left is a single similar 14th-century window under a flat arch. In the west wall is a single arched 3-light 14th-century window with cusped tracery, hood mould and label stops. The porch clerestory corresponds to the north clerestory.

Interior

The interior features four-bay 14th-century nave arcades with double-chamfered arches and octagonal columns. The south side responds have capitals decorated with nobbly leaves. The west capital of the north side features carved heads; the central capital displays carved heads sprouting leaves; the east capital is decorated with fleuron. Both sides have human head label stops, with the south side of the south arcade additionally featuring hood mould and human head label stops.

A tall 15th-century triple-chamfered tower arch spans the crossing. The 14th-century moulded chancel arch has its inner order supported on large carved human heads, while the outer order is decorated with carved fleuron and human and animal heads. A single roundel sits above the arch. Below the arch and at the juncture of north nave and chancel is a further carved human head. The arch from chancel to vestry is partially blocked by a doorway.

A low chancel screen retains some 15th-century fragments. The north wall of the north aisle contains a single arched piscina. The north aisle features a screen reconstructed from fragments of a 15th-century screen with panel tracery. An octagonal 15th-century ashlar font, with bowl and pedestal, is decorated with blind tracery. A 19th-century ashlar pulpit stands in the church. The north aisle displays four boards with biblical quotations, and a benefactions board dated 1719. A brass memorial to Jane Rugeley, dated 1670, is preserved, along with a single late 18th-century memorial and two early 19th-century memorials.