Church of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas at Dormston is a Grade I listed building with a 14th-century core. The church was substantially developed over subsequent centuries, with the addition of a mid-15th-century tower and the rebuilding of the chancel in the early 20th century. The nave and tower were restored in 1899 by C.C. Rolfe of Oxford, and the chancel was rebuilt in 1903–5 by C.F. Whitcombe.

The church is constructed of grey lias and red sandstone with a tile roof. The plan comprises a nave with a lower and narrower chancel, a south porch, and a west tower.

The exterior displays three distinct components of different materials and periods. The earliest element is the 14th-century rubble-stone nave, buttressed with a large south-east angle buttress. The south-facing wall contains a two-light Decorated window and a later two-light square-headed window to the right of the porch, which sits beneath the relieving arch of a narrower window. The south doorway has a continuous chamfer and a studded door, with a stoup to the right. The porch, possibly also 14th-century in date, is timber-framed and retains original posts, brackets, and a tie beam to the ends; the half-glazed sides on dwarf walls date from the 1899 restoration.

On the south-east side of the nave, beneath the eaves, is a large sundial with gnomon dated 1841, made by Thomas Davies, 'sciagrapher of Inkberrow'. The north side of the nave features a blocked pointed doorway similar to the south doorway, and a two-light square-headed window with ogee-headed lights.

The two-stage tower stands on a stone plinth with clasping buttresses. It is close-studded, with some replacement timber, whitened panels, and a saddleback roof, with louvred bell openings. A lean-to boiler house is attached to its north side.

The chancel, rebuilt in freestone in the early 20th century, has diagonal buttresses, a two-light Decorated east window, and a cusped south window.

The interior of the tower contains internal X-shaped braces. A cusped window with deep splay in the nave's west wall indicates that the tower was a later addition to the original structure. Below this window is a chamfered west doorway. The nave retains an unrestored two-bay roof (but three trusses) of tie and collar beams with vertical struts. The chancel arch is early 20th-century in date, and the chancel has a cradle roof. The nave walls have been stripped of plaster, whereas the chancel walls have always been of exposed stone. The floors throughout are 20th-century parquet.

The principal fixtures include a plain octagonal font of 14th- or 15th-century date on an octagonal stem and base. There are six 16th-century benches with moulded tops to square-headed ends. The 17th-century communion rails have turned balusters, though the central gates are missing. Built into the south chancel wall is a fragment of a medieval churchyard cross discovered during the 1905 building works, depicting the crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary. A late 19th-century polygonal pulpit on a stone base, probably by C.C. Rolfe, stands in the church. Medieval glass fragments remain in the nave tracery lights. The chancel's south window contains flowers, birds, and musical notation, created by Jim Budd in 1996. A wooden war-memorial diptych with naïve scenes of soldiers dying in battle, dated 1920 and made by W.H. Harris of Worcester, is positioned on the north wall.