Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a substantial medieval church of sandstone, originally Norman but predominantly dating from the late 13th and 14th centuries. A major feature is the 15th-century west tower with a spire, alongside a contemporary south porch, and a gabled clerestory added in the 17th century. The chancel was restored with considerable reconstruction by Ewan Christian in 1863, and the north aisle was rebuilt in 1872 by W J Hopkins, incorporating old materials and with the addition of a vestry to the north-west end.

The chancel retains two reset 12th-century round-arched windows in the north wall, and was likely rebuilt in the early 13th century, with a further rebuild in the 14th century. Major rebuilding began in the late 13th century with the seven-bay north aisle arcade; the south aisle arcade is early 14th century, featuring octagonal and quatrefoil clustered shaft piers, with one circular pier. The arches are of two chamfered orders. The 14th-century chancel arch is of two orders with ball flower ornament to the inner one. South aisle windows also date to the 14th century, with hood moulds; the north aisle windows were altered during the 1872 restoration.

The 15th-century tower has four stages, with a belfry arcade to each face featuring four 2-light mullioned-transomed windows (the outer ones blind), all with crocketed gabled drip moulds and finials. It has a crenellated parapet with corner pinnacles, topped by a graceful octagonal spire in three stages. The 15th-century south porch retains remains of a crocketed image bracket above the doorway in the gable; inside the porch, carved corner corbels indicate the original intention to vault in stone. In 1659, the three gables containing the south clerestory were added, those to the north being removed during the 1872 rebuilding of the north aisle.

The interior features good 16th and 17th-century monuments, primarily grouped under the tower. Notably, there is a strapwork alabaster altar-tomb with recumbent effigies of Sir Richard Grevis and his wife (dated 1632). The church occupies a prominent position on a hillock within a churchyard, north of the green, with the tower serving as a landmark.