Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a parish church located in Oakley, dating back to the medieval period and restored between 1876 and 1878. The church features a nave, chancel, west tower, south porch, and north vestry, constructed from flint rubble, with the north walls of the nave and chancel covered in cement render and stone dressings. The roofs are slated.

The 14th-century tower is supported by diagonal and angle buttresses and includes string courses below the belfry stage and parapet, which is adorned with gargoyles at the corners. The crenellated parapet features flushwork panelling. The west window has been restored and is a two-light design, while the belfry openings also consist of two lights. The nave, which has two bays, showcases fine 15th-century windows with three lights.

The south doorway, dating from the 14th century, is moulded and has a stoup nearby. There is a north doorway, likely from the 15th century, that is now blocked. The south porch, built of knapped flint, is a notable 15th-century feature with flushwork panelling on the facade and plinth. Its entrance arch is decorated with fleurons and crowns, and the spandrels are carved with shields of arms within circles. Above the arch is a row of quatrefoils, with canopied niches on either side. The porch also has paired two-light parvis windows with a central canopied niche and a sundial above, along with a crenellated parapet. The side windows of the porch contain re-set fragments of medieval glass.

The chancel, dating from the 15th century, has three-light side windows and a four-light east window, all of which have been extensively restored. Inside, the nave features a roof from the 14th or 15th century with arch-braced tie beams and principal rafters, all moulded and with fleuron bosses at the intersections. The rafters are concealed by 19th-century boarding, and the chancel roof was renewed around 1860.

In the north wall of the nave, there are rood stairs and two canopied image niches from the 15th century. The east bay of the nave is slightly recessed, with a piscina and drop-sill sedilia to the south, and a trefoil-arched angle piscina in the chancel. A plain octagonal font on a round stem is positioned against the north nave wall, and there are four 15th-century poppyhead benches at the west end of the nave. Other furnishings are from the 19th century, including a tile and mosaic reredos from 1882. In the chancel, there is a plain marble and alabaster tomb chest for Sir William Cornwallis, who died in 1611.