Church of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

Parish church rebuilt in 1862–1864 in Gothic style by architect Edwin Nash. The design incorporates monuments from the earlier church that previously stood on the site. In 1899, the north chapel was converted into an organ chamber.

The building is constructed of dressed flint with stone dressings. The roofs are covered in red tiles with several courses of alternate curved and pointed tiles, except for the spire which is shingled.

The plan comprises a four-bay nave, two-bay chancel, north and south aisles, a south aisle chapel, a north aisle chapel (converted to organ chamber in 1899), and a north-east vestry.

The west tower rises through four stages and is topped with a shingled broached spire with angled buttresses to the three lower stages. The bell stage features triple louvred openings with drip moulds and corbels. The third stage carries clock faces, also with drip moulds and corbels. The second stage has arched windows on its south and west sides; the west window has trefoil heads and an oculus. The west side also displays an arched doorcase with corbel heads and colonnettes. The north side of the second stage contains two trefoil-headed lancets and a narrow arched entrance.

The south aisle consists of four bays with triple arched windows and buttresses. A gabled south porch features pierced wooden barge boards inscribed "How amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of Hosts". The lower south chapel of two bays has paired lancet windows divided by buttresses and a triple arched east window.

The chancel, which is taller than the nave, displays a five-light arched window with trefoil heads.

The north aisle spans four bays with triple arched windows having trefoil heads. A gabled porch contains an arched doorway with stone corbel heads. The north chapel, now serving as organ chamber, features a five-light triple bay. The north-east vestry has a stone chimney, two stone mullioned windows, a narrow entrance on the north side, and a triple window on the east side.

Interior

The west tower contains a wood and glazed screen. The nave has a pointed arched arcade supported on circular columns with stiff-leaf capitals. The walls are whitewashed. Both nave and aisles have boarded wooden roofs supported on stone brackets and retain original pews. The west walls of the aisles display 18th-century wooden charity boards. At the west end of the south aisle stands an 1860s square stone font on a circular base with engaged corner columns. The south chapel contains a medieval pillar piscina from the earlier church. An elaborate cast iron screen separates the nave and chancel and incorporates a hexagonal cast iron pulpit with wooden floor and handrail. The chancel retains choir stalls, wooden altar rails, and an alabaster carved reredos.

Stained Glass

The chancel east window depicts New Testament scenes from the Annunciation to Christ appearing at the empty tomb.

The south chapel's east window, a memorial to Laura Frances Still of circa 1863, shows the Crucifixion and other scenes. The south chapel has a pair of memorial windows at the south-east end commemorating Albert Price Still (died 1864), depicting Christ stilling the waves and the Raising of Lazarus. A pair at the south-west honours John Ruck (died 1859) and includes the Good Samaritan. The south aisle's eastern window is a memorial to John and Maria Sarah Ruck of 1898, depicting the Madonna and Child flanked by the three Kings. Further west is a Chambers memorial window of circa 1887 showing Christ the Healer flanked by St Nicholas and St Cuthbert. The westernmost window is a memorial to Arthur Reed Jackson (died 1904), depicting St George flanked by Angels.

The north aisle retains only small fragments of stained glass following Second World War bomb damage.

Monuments

The west tower contains a marble wall monument to Sarah Glover (died 1629) featuring kneeling figures of a son and three daughters, obelisks, side panels, and skulls. Her husband, Joseph Glover, was the rector who resigned in 1636 to emigrate to America, where he brought the first printing press to New England.

The south aisle's west wall displays a marble wall monument to William, 1st Earl Talbot (died 1782) with a coat of arms above a carved sarcophagus, and a wall monument to Isaac Littlebury (died 1710) featuring an urn, drapery, putti, and winged skull. The south wall contains a wall monument to Sir James William Morrison Knight (died 1856) depicting a tomb, grieving female, and angel. Floor slabs commemorate Henry Wych, Rector (died 1678), Catherine Holmes (died 1766), and Robert Holmes (died 1782).

The south chapel holds a wall monument to Reverend James Sanxay (died 1766) and members of his family, erected in 1830.

The chancel contains wall tablets to Francis Gosling Esq (died 1856), Robert William Turner, Rector 1922–1955, and Charles Cotton King (died 1841).

The former north chapel, now organ chamber, contains an elaborate marble monument to Dame Dorothy Brownlowe (died 1699) by William Stanton. It depicts a full-length figure of a lady leaning on her left arm with three children (two weeping, one pointing to a Glory surrounded by cherubim on a curtain, with gilded tassels). Above are two cupids with golden trumpets. At the sides are pilasters with gilded coronets and urns. The monument rests on a gadrooned and panelled plinth with an inscription on an oval tablet.

The north aisle houses a marble wall monument to Maria Addington (died 1764), a wall memorial to Laurence Turner Blades killed at Ypres in 1915, a war memorial in three colours of marble to Old Boys of Sutton High School who fell in the two World Wars, a wall monument in black and white marble to William Payne (died 1816) and his wife Ann (died 1852), a wall monument to Thomas Newte Esq (died 1806), and a wall monument to Reverend Giles Hatch (died 1800).