Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a parish church with medieval origins, with a chancel restored in the 19th century. It comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch, constructed from flint rubble with stone dressings, and retaining some traces of render on the nave. The nave roof is leaded, while the chancel roof is plaintiled.

The 15th-century tower is square with four stages and a crenellated parapet. It features diagonal buttresses to the west and lateral buttresses to the east, projecting to the north and south sides. Decorative flushwork adorns the plinth, buttresses, and parapet. The west doorway is moulded, with a fleuron-enriched arch. Above the doorway is a three-light window flanked by three canopied statue niches. The stonework to the doorway, window, and niches has been largely renewed in the 19th century. The second stage of the tower has small, trefoil-headed windows to the north and south, with a two-light belfry opening on the south side which is now blocked.

The nave has a 12th-century core, featuring an original north doorway with a single order of colonnettes and a chevron arch. A south doorway, dating to the early 14th century, leads to the nave with a medieval door. Various late 14th and 15th-century windows are also present; two on the south side have mask stops to the hoodmoulds. The 15th-century porch has a wide, hoodmoulded entrance with a cinquefoil-headed niche above, and blocked cinquefoil-headed single-light side windows. The nave retains its original crown-post roof.

The 12th-century chancel was extended eastward in the 14th century. To the south are two 2-light Perpendicular windows with square heads, one largely original. An altered priest’s doorway is present, and to the north is a single lancet window. A three-light east window with Geometrical tracery was inserted in 1872.

Internally, the nave has a 14th or early 15th-century coupled-rafter roof with scissor-braced collars and a moulded cornice enriched with fleurons; original boarding is between the ashlar pieces, with a narrow boarded section at the east end, likely intended for a canopy of honour. The chancel roof is from 1870. A rood stair is located in the south-east nave, with an arch incorporated into the east splay of a window. Empty niches border the chancel arch. The chancel contains a 14th-century piscina with a two-centred arch, adjacent to a window with a low sill for sedilia. A font dating to the early 15th century is octagonal, with eight bowl panels carved with five different traceried designs and three shields. An early 17th-century font cover has a panelled base with detached columns at the angles, openwork above, carved brackets converging on a central column that terminates in a spike finial. At the west end of the nave are eight benches with ends terminating in scrolls, perhaps dating to the 16th century. The remainder of the seating is from around 1870. An early 17th-century pulpit has bookboards on carved brackets. A 15th-century dado of rood screen features traceried panels painted with Old Testament prophets. The reredos of 1870 incorporates the Lord’s Prayer, Commandments, and Creed.