Church Of St Nicholas

FRANKTON MAIN STREET SP47SW (North side) 1/64 Church of St. Nicholas 06/10/60 GV II* Church. Lower stage of tower C13, upper stage C15. Rest rebuilt early C14. Porch, vestry and major restoration 1872 by G.G. Scott. Coursed squared limestone with red sandstone quoins and dressings. Old tile roofs, with ridge cresting to chancel; nave has moulded parapet; vestry and aisle lean-to roofs have coped gable parapets. Chancel, nave, south aisle and porch, north vestry and west tower. 2-bay chancel, 3-bay nave. Splayed plinth throughout. Chancel has east wall largely rebuilt in C18/C19 red brick, with large brick and stone diagonal buttresses. Chancel and aisle have 3-light east windows with bar tracery; chancel window has hood mould with head stops. 2 south buttresses of 2 offsets. Chamfered square-headed doorway with plank door. Chancel and aisle have 2 straight-headed 3-light windows with rectilinear tracery and hood moulds with block stops to chancel. Small trefoiled ogee low-side lancet to north and south sides. Moulded cornice. Aisle has restored or renewed chamfered and moulded south doorway with hood mould; plank door with old strap hinges. Open-fronted timber porch has glazed sides. South clerestory of 2 paired trefoiled lights. North side of nave has 2 pairs of trefoiled lancets. Buttress between nave and chancel. Vestry has north gable, paired trefoiled lancets to east and straight-headed door to west. Tracery of 1872 throughout. Tower of 2 stages. High first stage has massive sandstone clasping west buttresses: C19 limestone east buttresses of 2 offsets. Splayed plinth. Paired C19 west lancets. C13 lancet to south and west. Rendered chamfered north doorway. Moulded string course. Second stage has Tudor-arched 2-light traceried bell openings, paired to south, with blind traceried reveals and hood moulds. Moulded cornice and embattled parapet. Panelled pinnacles, renewed in 1976. Fragments of gargoyles. Interior: chancel has arched aumbry. Square-headed vestry door. C19 scissor-braced roof has scrolled spandrels, and two C14 head corbels to west. Chancel arch of 2 chamfered orders, the inner with half-octagonal responds and moulded capitals. Nave has C19 moulded queen post roof with curved braces to tie beam, collar and purlins. Early C14 south arcade of 2 chamfered orders with octagonal piers and responds and moulded capitals. West organ gallery. Aisle has restored ogee piscina. Eroded pinnacle removed from tower. Fittings all of c.1872. Chancel has encaustic tile floor. Gothic-style pulpit, altar rails, screen, stalls and pews. Stained glass: east window in memory of Colonel Biddulph, killed in the Indian mutiny in 1857. The restoration cost 2,000. (V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.6, pp.93-94; Buildings of England: Warwickshire, p.295; Kelly's Directory of Warwickshire, 1892, p.100).

Listing NGR: SP4237070160