The Wykeham Chapel Of St Nicholas

The Wykeham Chapel of St Nicholas is a private chapel, originally built in 1311, with significant alterations in the late 18th century and the late 19th century. It is constructed of limestone ashlar, with some red brick patching. The chapel comprises a single, combined nave and chancel. It features a moulded plinth and string course, regularly placed four-stage buttresses, and a southwest polygonal stair turret with slit lights. The west front has a large pointed window with slender nook shafts and a hood mould, now blocked with brick. The outline of a former attached building is visible to the west of the window, with a rectangular window breaking into the original opening, topped by an ashlar gable. A blocked rectangular window and doorway with a Caernarvon head are situated to the right. Various corbels are below. On the north side, three large pointed windows alternate with buttresses; the one on the right is blocked, while the others each have three lights and intersecting tracery. The east end features a large pointed window flanked by buttresses and a sill band, with nook shafts, a hood mould, and fragmentary tracery in the head. A low, late 19th-century ashlar wall, enclosing a private graveyard, runs to the east, incorporating a wrought iron railing and a gateway to the south. The south side has a doorway to the left with a pointed head and a continuously moulded surround of two orders, along with a wrought iron gate. Three large pointed windows are above; the one on the left is blocked, the central one has reticulated tracery and three ogee-headed lights, and the one on the right has three pointed lights and intersecting tracery. A small rectangular opening is located in the bay to the left. The interior retains east and west windows with nook shafts and hood moulds. The east window is flanked by ornate, crocketed-and-finialled single niches with flanking pinnacles. Gable outlines are visible above the east and west gables. A southwest pointed doorway leads to the stair turret with a continuous chamfered surround. Above the south doorway is a shelf displaying various fragments carved with shields. The chapel was built for Prior Hatfield of Spalding as a private chapel for his country house. The site is designated as Ancient Monument No. 45.