Church Of St Nicholas

Parish church. Built in 1734 for Robert, eighth Lord Petre, and consecrated in 1736. The church was constructed to replace two medieval parish churches that had been closed by Act of Parliament: St Nicholas' in Ingrave (one kilometre to the north) and St Nicholas' in West Horndon (two and a half kilometres to the south), from which some fittings were transferred. The building is designed in the style of Hawksmoor and is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with stone dressings, roofed with handmade red clay tiles.

The plan consists of a chancel and nave aligned almost north to south, with vestries on each side of the chancel and a south tower. The chancel is narrower than the nave. Its east wall contains a window with a semicircular arch glazed with glass by Edward Frampton (1894). The north and south walls of the chancel each have one round window. A raised band runs below the windows. The chancel features an eaves cornice with large dentils and mouldings, and a hipped roof of shallow pitch. Paintings on the east, north and south walls by Reginald Hallward (1894) are now covered by white paint. The interior has a moulded plaster ceiling cornice and a moulded semicircular chancel arch with extended imposts.

The nave has two casements with semicircular arches and one round casement in each of the north and south walls, all with original wooden frames. Original north and south double doors, each of eight panels with ovolo mouldings set in semicircular arches, lead from these walls. A raised band is positioned below the windows. The cornice resembles that of the chancel, though the roof is gabled and of higher pitch. The interior is plain apart from a moulded ceiling cornice.

The vestries are positioned on either side of the chancel. Each has an east window with a semicircular arch and a west doorway with boarded frame and segmental arch. The north vestry retains its original six-panel door, while the south vestry has a twentieth-century replica. Both vestries feature moulded eaves cornices and hipped roofs.

The west tower is plain, with a semi-octagonal turret at each side that rises above the parapet as an octagon. The original west double doors consist of two leaves, each of eight fielded panels, set within a semicircular arch with a projecting keystone. The wooden tympanum has radial slots. Raised bands mark the impost and keystone levels. Above the doors is a plain casement under a flat arch of gauged brick. The bell stage has louvred apertures to east and west, each with a semicircular arch. An arched corbel table runs on all four sides of the tower. Each turret has three plain loops.

Interior fittings and memorials include an octagonal font with quatrefoiled panels and moulded rim and base, dating from the early sixteenth century, and an oak octagonal pulpit of circa 1735. The chancel contains two brasses: one of Margaret Wake (1466), showing a woman in kirtle, mantle and butterfly head-dress with incomplete marginal inscription plates and four shields of arms; the other of Sir Richard Fitz-Lewes (1528), depicting a man in plate armour with a tabard of arms, his head resting on a crested helm and feet on a dog, with figures of four wives in fur-trimmed gowns and pedimental head-dresses, and indents of two groups of children. The organ, dating from 1856, was removed from the chapel of Thorndon Hall.

The chancel floor contains multiple floor slabs: of Grace, wife of Reverend John Newman (1795) and John Newman (1802); of Elizabeth Banks (1787), Elizabeth Newman (1788), Robert Newman (1792) and Joseph Newman (1802); of Joseph Collborne (1795) and his widow Hester (1831); of Reverend Owen Jones and Anne Jones (1772); of Mary Ann Marston (1795), Ann, wife of Charles Marston (1795) and Charles Marston (1806); and of Henrietta Walmesley (1767). The nave contains floor slabs of John Tempest (1736 and 1757), Reverend Charles Lucas (1787), Luke Davy (1799) and Peter Denoir (1799). Inset under glass near the north-west corner of the nave is a portion of a black-letter inscription to Walter Gayslee, dating from the fourteenth century. The north wall of the chancel bears a tablet to Reverend Thomas Newman (1807) and his widow Margaret (1819), and the south wall bears a tablet to Thomas and Elizabeth Newman (1842).

The church contains six bells. The first, second, third and fifth bells are by Thomas Gardiner, with the second dated 1737 and the fifth dated 1735; the others are probably of similar dates.