Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

This is a parish church dating from the 14th century, with significant restoration undertaken in 1850. The building is constructed mainly of flint with some carstone and occasional erratics, featuring stone dressings and a lead roof.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, north and south aisles, chancel, and south porch. The west tower is a tall four-stage structure with short diagonal buttresses and stone plinth. The west window features Y tracery, and the second stage contains small quatrefoil sound holes with a clock face to the west and a string course above. The third stage has Y tracery bell openings, with a steep gable line of the former roof to the east containing a blocked square opening and another string course above. The fourth stage displays 2-light bell openings with reticulated tracery, and a string course leads to the parapet, which has gargoyles to the south and west (the north gargoyle is lost). The parapet is embattled with some flushwork panelling and angle pinnacles bearing seated evangelistic symbols holding shields. The tower is topped with a pitch-covered dome featuring an octagonal stone block with a weathervane finial.

The nave has an east gable with a blocked lancet. Both north and south clerestoreys contain four openings alternating between two cusped lights with trefoils under semi-circular heads and circular openings with quatrefoils.

The north aisle has a slate roof with diagonal buttresses at the angles and three stepped buttresses. It contains three Y tracery openings, with the left one being wide and the right one cusped. The west return has a similar opening. The north doorway features continuous double roll moulding. An oval window to the east return contains a quatrefoil and eyelets.

The south aisle is similar to the north but has two buttresses. The central opening has cusped Y tracery, and the west return features a cusped Y tracery opening with a trefoil and small dagger eyelet between the lights.

The south porch is constructed of flint with some dressed limestone and has a gabled pantile roof with parapet. A sundial dated 1604 is positioned at the apex. The porch arch is semi-circular with continuous hollow chamfered and roll mouldings. The returns have double cusp-headed lights under a segmental head. The roof is a clasping purlin roof, and the south doorway matches the north doorway in style.

The chancel has a tiled roof with diagonal buttresses. The 19th-century three-light east window features panel tracery, with a blocked opening of an earlier larger window visible behind. Both north and south chancel walls have buttresses and 2-light openings with renewed panel tracery. Each has a central priest's door under a pointed segmental head: the north one is blocked while the south one has figure stops to the hood mould.

Interior

The nave features a tall four-bay arcade on both north and south sides with octagonal piers and double chamfered arches. The chancel arch is similar but lower with reduced imposts. The roof is a two-tier structure with moulded purlins and principal rafters decorated with foliage bosses; other rafters have been renewed. Hammer beams are positioned against the tower and chancel walls.

A 14th-century octagonal font decorated with quatrefoils to its faces stands in the nave. A square-headed rear arch frames an oval window at the east of the north aisle. The south aisle contains an aumbry.

The chancel has an arch-braced three-tier roof dating from 1850, decorated with foliage and heraldic bosses. A Perpendicular piscina and sedilia with cusped heads to the arcade are present. The north priest's door has flower stops, and an oak dove is positioned over the apex of the east window. The south aisle contains a trefoil-headed piscina and corbel plinth to the right of the east window.

The tower interior is notable for its tall double chamfered arch with a gabled roof line above. The rear arch of the tower window and the west window of the south aisle feature hollow moulding. The tower dome is constructed of brick with eight stone ribs that have neither corbels nor a central boss. A ten-step newel stair at the north-east angle provides access to the parapet.