Parish Church Of St Nicholas

Parish Church of St Nicholas

This parish church, now vested in the Redundant Churches Fund, dates from the 11th to 15th centuries with significant alterations and additions made in 1845. It is constructed of ashlar, coursed limestone and ironstone rubble with ashlar dressings, and is roofed with lead, plain tiles and slate.

The Tower

The unbuttressed, rather squat ashlar tower has three unequal stages with a splayed base. It features two moulded plinth bands and a moulded stringcourse to the first stage, with a plain stringcourse to the second. The plain parapet has a finely carved corbel table and moulded top. The large central stage contains a small trefoil-headed window on each face and a small quatrefoil on the south face. The three-light west window is 19th century but incorporates some 14th-century ball flower ornament, with a 19th-century carved head set in the centre of the tracery. The hood mould and decorated label stops are 14th-century work. The belfry openings on all faces are two-light 14th-century work, deeply inset with hood moulds and label stops.

The Aisles

The ashlar north aisle wall was rebuilt in 1845 and has a lead roof marked by two bays of buttresses. The west window is a lancet, and the north side has two two-light windows. The north clerestorey, in coursed limestone rubble, features a richly panelled embattled parapet with two lines of shields in cusped lozenges. Two gargoyles drain the lead roof, and pinnacle bases remain though the pinnacles have been lost. Two 15th-century four-centred windows have had their tracery removed.

The south aisle is constructed of coursed limestone to the lower part and coursed ironstone to the upper, with a lead roof. The east window is 14th-century, two-light with reticulated tracery and a hood mould with human mask label stops. The south window is late 14th-century, two-light with recut reticulated tracery and heavy hood mould with block stops. The west window is a 13th-century lancet.

The Chancel and Vestry

The ashlar and slate vestry dates from 1845, as does the largely rebuilt chancel. The chancel is of coursed limestone rubble with some ironstone and ashlar to the upper part of the east end. The plain tile roof has a stone coped gable and cross fleury at the ridge. At the east end are three 19th-century lancets under a continuous hood mould. The south side has one recut 13th-century plate tracery window and a single 19th-century lancet. The east wall of the nave has a battlemented parapet terminating with an angel figure at the ridge. A 19th-century cross stands on a 15th-century pinnacle base. A reused Saxon cross shaft fragment bearing tight interlace decoration is inset near the south wall.

The Porch

The south porch is ashlar with a lead roof and stone coped gables. The opening is round-arched with plain imposts. An inscription over the door reads 'L Pollard CW 1789', probably referring to the reroofing of the porch. The porch has stone side benches. The south doorway appears to have been recut in the 17th century as a plain pointed chamfered opening with slightly moulded imposts.

Interior Features

The interior features a late 12th-century south arcade of two bays with short circular piers on large square bases with waterleaf capitals and plain responds. The stepped and chamfered arches have dog-tooth hood moulds with an added 19th-century head over the central pier. Over the eastern bay is a blocked opening cut by the 12th-century arcade, suggesting an earlier 11th-century phase. The rear arch to the south aisle western lancet contains some dog-tooth decoration. An incised geometric consecration cross appears on the south arcade.

The two-bay north arcade is late 13th-century with octagonal piers and responds and nail-head decoration to the top mouldings of the capitals. The double-chamfered pointed arches have hood moulds. The massive double-chamfered tower arch is late 12th-century with keeled responds and sprigs of stiff-leaf decoration to the capitals. It has a billet-moulded hood matching the south arcade. The tower stair door is set in a small 14th-century arched opening and retains original decorative ironwork and keyplate. In the splayed sill of the tower window is an inscribed lead plaque reading 'T. Pollard C.W. 1802'.

The nave roof is 17th-century oak with tie beams and moulded purlins. The chancel arch is 13th-century, recut in the 19th century, with semicircular responds and double-chamfered arch, appearing almost four-centred. The chancel has 19th-century piscina, aumbry, roof and corbels.

Fittings and Contents

The hexagonal pulpit is 17th-century with two tiers of plain panelling, a back piece and tester over with fretted edge, dentillated cornice and pendent knobs. The pews are 19th-century. An oak chest, probably 14th-century, has traceried pointed arches on the front. Above the tower arch are the Royal Arms of George IV (1830). Mid 19th-century commandment boards appear on the tower walls, alongside a benefactors board of 1758 on the south tower wall. The font is a plain 12th-century circular tub on a round columnar base. Fragments of 14th-century glass survive in the west window.