Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas, Loxley

A medieval parish church with substantial 18th-century alterations and a major restoration in 1923-4. The church was established by around 1286, when the dedication to St Nicholas is first recorded. The surviving medieval fabric consists of the south-west tower and chancel, though the nave and chancel were extensively altered in the mid-18th century.

The building is constructed in coursed rubble limestone with some dressed stone and plaster, featuring ashlar dressings and herringbone stonework to parts of the chancel. The roofs are steeply pitched with old tiles and coped stone gables.

The church follows a simple plan: a single-bay chancel, a two-bay nave, a three-stage south-west tower, and a small vestry to the south-east.

The chancel has an ashlar and rubble east wall with a double-chamfered pointed window opening containing an inserted 18th-century round-headed window, and a diagonal buttress to the right. The side walls are corniced; the north side is plastered with an 18th-century round-headed window with ashlar sill and surround with imposts and key block. The south side exposes herringbone and rubble stonework above plaster, with an 18th-century window matching that to the north and a re-set single-chamfered lancet to the east.

The nave has an ashlar north side with plain plinth, top frieze and cornice, and two 18th-century windows matching those of the chancel. The south side has rubble footings with signs of a blocked window to the left of two 18th-century windows.

The vestry has a hipped roof and incorporates eight late 17th and early 18th-century headstones (two illegible) and parts of two chest tombs, mostly belonging to members of the Southam family. The round-headed south window has jambs formed from balusters salvaged from a chest tomb. The east entrance has a pegged frame and wide-board door.

The tower has a south-west diagonal buttress and an offset band over the lower stage. It is built in rubble with an ashlar top stage above a plat band, featuring a crenellated parapet and lead spouts. A painted sundial with metal gnomon, dated 1845, bears the inscription "I DIE TODAY & LIVE TOMORROW". The east entrance has a wide-board door to the left of a coped end wall of a former aisle, which has a blocked arch. A 16th-century two-light single-chamfered mullioned window is positioned to the south. The second stage contains a south lancet and west trefoil. The 18th-century top stage has elliptical-headed bell openings, with a painted sundial to the south.

The west end has pilaster strips, top frieze and hipped roof. The entrance, renewed with a round head, has a leaded fanlight over paired three-panel doors and a round window above.

The interior features plastered walls and flagged floors. The chancel has a wood sill course with egg-and-dart moulding and a rich top dentilled and modillioned wood cornice to the ceiling. Window frames are ovolo-moulded with imposts and key blocks. The east wall below the sill course has fielded panelling. Below the dado, exposed herringbone masonry with quoins is visible to the north, together with a blocked square recess. A round-headed doorway to the south contains a six-fielded-panel door. The chancel arch is double-chamfered and elliptical.

The nave has a dado rail and top cornice, with a ceiling featuring rough-chamfered beams. A late 13th-century double-chamfered tower arch opens to the west end of the south wall, with part of a blocked arcade to the east and a later blocked round-headed window. The tower interior has exposed masonry and chamfered beams.

Notable fittings include a 12th-century pillar piscina in the chancel with a scalloped capital to an octagonal shaft. The rails have column-on-vase balusters to a moulded top rail and scrolly cast-iron supports flanking the gate. The nave contains circa 1740 fielded-panelled box pews with H-hinges to the doors, the two to the east being larger. The tower holds ex-situ timber stocks.

A coffin lid of around 1300 survives in the nave as a memorial.