Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

This is a church of medieval origin located on Beaudesert Lane. The main structure dates from the mid-12th century, with a 15th-century tower added later. Some rebuilding, probably from the late 16th century, is evident, and the church underwent substantial restoration in 1865 by the architect Thomas Garner.

The church is constructed of rubble and dressed limestone with ashlar dressings, under steeply pitched old tile roofs. The plan comprises a 2-bay chancel, a 3-bay nave, and a west tower.

The chancel features coped gables with crosses and clasping buttresses with a string course. The east window is 12th-century with a round head, shafts, and mouldings including zig-zag decoration to the arch. On either side are worn tablets; one has Tuscan pilasters and a swan-neck pediment with an urn, while the other commemorates Richard Jago, who died in 1741 and was the father of the poet Richard Jago. The north side has a large off-set buttress between two 12th-century round-headed windows with square-cut openings. The south side has a pilaster buttress, with a 2-light late 13th-century window to its left (featuring a double-chamfered shaped arch) and the jamb and part of the arch of a 12th-century window to its right.

The nave's north wall was rebuilt inside the former wall-line with two string courses; the lower one reuses 12th-century material with some diapering, while the upper marks a narrowing of the wall. Two 14th-century double-chamfered straight-headed windows (of 3 and 2 trefoil-headed lights respectively) are positioned east of a large off-set buttress. A plain 12th-century round-headed entrance with strap-hinged door is present, and a 2-light pointed window to the right end has renewed Decorated tracery. A further off-set buttress stands at the west end.

The south side has a high string course. A reset 12th-century entrance in a forward break has four orders with a richly moulded arch and a 19th-century door with enriched strap hinges. To the west is a high blocked opening; to the east are two 2-light windows with renewed tracery.

The 3-stage west tower has a rectangular plan, moulded plinth, and on the north side a tall narrow infill (possibly infilling a former nave west wall) with a cruder plinth to the west and an off-set buttress abutting the present nave west wall, with a bracket to the angle and a rectangular opening above. Diagonal west buttresses are present. The 15th-century 3-light transomed west window has a worn hood with stops, crockets, and fleuron. A string course runs above, with a small trefoil-headed light with similar hood above that. The bell-stage has louvred bell-openings of 2 cinquefoil-headed lights with hoods as described. A very worn cornice and 19th or 20th-century crenellated parapet with hipped roof crown the tower. The south side has an image niche and stair lights with hoods as above.

Inside, the chancel has a 19th-century quadripartite vaulted roof on original piers with scalloped or interlaced capitals. A damaged 13th-century piscina sits in the east wall, with aumbrys to the north and south. The north windows have deep splays. The restored 12th-century chancel arch has three orders with a richly moulded arch including considerable zig-zag decoration. A 19th-century half-arch to the north side reveals part of the original chancel arch, with a 16th-century wall partially covering it.

The nave has a 4-bay 16th or 17th-century roof with four tie-beam and collar trusses featuring queen struts, braced collars, and coupled rafters. The wall plates are 19th-century brattished. The double-chamfered tower arch has capitals to its inner chamfer and a 19th-century timber screen. Signs of a blocked 12th-century window appear at the west end of the south wall.

The fittings are mostly 19th-century. The chancel has an altar rail on enriched iron supports and some encaustic tiles. The nave retains some 15th or 16th-century bench ends with arms and round, flat finials; other benches have 19th-century copies with numbered finials and candle standards. A plain 15th-century octagonal font with moulded underside is present, along with a 19th-century Norman-style lectern.

The stained glass includes an east window by Holland, probably around 1865; two chancel north windows dated 1852 or 1862; and a west window with figures dated 1875. Most other windows are by Morris & Company, dating to around 1864-5.

Monuments include 18th and 19th-century wall tablets in the tower. William Welch (died 1777) has a black sarcophagus-shaped tablet in a white setting with coloured marble to the apron, fluted pilasters, cornice, and swan-neck pediment with a central urn and outer gadrooned urns. William Ellis (died 1848) has a Norman-style round-headed tablet.