Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

A parish church of significant antiquity, with a chancel and nave dating from around 1100, and a west tower begun around 1130. The upper stages of the tower were completed later in the 12th century. The chancel arch was rebuilt in the 15th century. A late 15th-century west porch with a room above and a 16th-century south porch were added. A north vestry was constructed around 1843. The building has undergone considerable restoration work in the 19th century and later.

The walls are constructed of roughly coursed ragstone, flint and septaria rubble with limestone dressings. The roofs are covered in red plain tiles.

The chancel features an angled buttress to its north angle, with gault brick to the gable apex. The east wall contains a 19th-century window of three trefoiled ogee lights with tracery above, moulded two-centred arch and label. The south wall has two eastern restored lancet windows and a western 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery beneath a moulded square head and label. The north vestry, built of plastered brick, has a matching three-light east window and two lancet windows to its north wall, with a two-centred arch to its central doorway.

The nave's north wall displays an eastern restored 14th-century window of two trefoiled lights with two-centred arch and label, a central wide window with a two-centred arch containing an inserted 18th-century two-light wooden frame, and a high blocked round-headed window of circa 1100. A three-light 18th-century window with transom sits below the eaves to the far west. A blocked 14th-century two-centred arch marks the position of the north doorway. The south wall has similar eastern windows to those on the north, a partly restored 14th-century western window of two pointed lights beneath a two-centred head and label, and a mid-13th-century south doorway with jambs and two-centred arch of two chamfered orders, moulded imposts and moulded label with defaced headstops. A 15th-century door of five nailed boards with centre and edge fillets and strap hinges remains in place. Scratch dials flank the south doorway, and the remains of a stoup are visible to the east wall.

The south porch is built of flint and rubble beneath a gabled red plain tiled roof of two bays. It features moulded and cambered tie beams, moulded braces and wall posts, a very small octagonal crown post with moulded capitals and base, and a moulded centre purlin. The timber outer doorway has moulded jambs and a three-centred arch with sunk spandrels, surmounted by a moulded tie beam.

The west tower, approximately 13 and a half feet square, consists of three stages. The first stage dates from around 1130 to 1140 and has pilaster buttresses at its angles; the two later 12th-century upper stages lack buttresses. The bell chamber contains stone windows of two trefoiled lights with segmental heads and labels on the north, south and west faces, and an east brick window similarly treated. Clock faces are positioned below the south and west windows. A blocked 12th-century window is said to exist in the south wall, scarcely visible externally. The north wall contains a blocked 12th-century window with a later smaller round-headed window inserted, and at ground floor level a 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights beneath a square head with moulded label. The tower interior, not accessible at the time of re-survey, is said to contain further 12th-century windows and a 15th-century west doorway with moulded jambs and two-centred arch set within a square head with moulded label; the spandrels display quatrefoiled circles enclosing foliage. An octagonal weatherboarded spire with splays at the tower angles crowns the structure.

The unusual west porch rises to two storeys with gables to the west and south. It has a moulded plinth, a square-headed window to the first floor of the west face, and a west doorway with splayed responds and two-centred arch, fitted with a plank and muntin door. A small window lights the first floor of the south gable, which is accented by a flint band. A medieval stoup is said to stand to the left of the stair turret doorway, and well-preserved timbers survive in the priests' chamber.

Interior

The chancel is furnished with a boarded barrel-vaulted roof and flanked by boards inscribed with the Exodus and Lords Prayer. A piscina in the south wall forms a recess with no drain and a moulded concave pointed head. Turned balusters frame the altar rail. A 19th-century south arcade of two bays features octagonal columns with capitals and bases, and chamfered two-centred arches. The north vestry or Lady Chapel extends the chancel with three bays, moulded tie beams and tall thin four-armed octagonal crown posts. A 19th-century octagonal font stands with a cross to its west panel. A 16th-century chest with barrel lid and strap hinges is preserved. The 15th-century chancel arch is two-centred with two chamfered orders; the inner rests on attached semi-octagonal shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The responds, except for their capitals which may date from the 13th century, are possibly reset.

The nave features a 14th- or 15th-century roof of three bays, that to the east being boarded. Moulded wall plates are supported on stone corbels carved as two angels with wings and a man and woman. Moulded arched braces support moulded and cambered tie beams. Four-armed octagonal crown posts with moulded capitals and bases rise from the wall plates. A 19th-century stone octagonal pulpit exhibits acanthus moulding to its rim, floral diapering and moulded soffit, standing on an octagonal stem with moulded base and stone steps. A chamfered two-centred arch marks the entrance to the rood loft stairs. Traces of painting survive on the north-eastern window splay. A monument to Elizabeth Peart, dated 1832, stands on the north-west wall. Traces of a painted inscription reading "Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden" of probably 17th- or 18th-century date remain to the east of the north doorway. A moulded band extends from west of the south doorway through to south of the west tower arch. An organ of 1929 by R. Huntingford blocks the west tower arch. The tower arch itself is said to contain two plain orders with chamfered imposts and a semi-circular arch. A Norman font originally from Horndon Church in Essex was installed during the 1970s. It is of square plan with three interlocking round-headed arches on the north and south faces, fluerette crosses on the east and west faces, a plain circular central column, angle columns with moulded bases and cushion capitals, and a square base.