Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas, Eythorne

A parish church dating to circa 1180, this is a complete though small example of late 12th-century ecclesiastical architecture, sumptuously decorated throughout. The building was restored between 1839 and 1842 by R.C. Hussey. It comprises a nave and chancel, constructed of flint with Caenstone ashlar and finished with a plain tiled roof.

The lower half of the external walls is of flint, with ashlar above featuring blind arcading (except on the west wall) and a corbel table beneath the roof line. The arcading generally alternates between large and small semi-circular arches; the smaller arches contain lancet windows with pointed heads where they rise above the north and south doorways. The only major post-12th-century window is a two-light 15th-century window in the west wall, though a 12th-century lancet and quatrefoil also occupy this elevation.

The east end presents an arcaded and weathered base with buttresses, dominated by a large wheel window. The wheel's spokes consist of colonnettes with beasts' heads as capitals, and the surround is enriched with leaves and winged beasts. Below the wheel window, arcading and lancets are surrounded by recesses containing sculptural fragments depicting the Evangelists' symbols and a figure of a knight on horseback. Crouching lions in brackets occupy the gable ends to left and right. A mutilated sculptural fragment on the south chancel wall preserves only the trace of an architectural tabernacle.

The three doorways provide the principal sculptural ornament. The north door features attached shafts with enriched capitals and bestial-head imposts, surrounded by four orders: an enriched chevron, roll mould, triple zig-zag, and a further roll mould. The priest's door on the south chancel wall bears a billet-moulded hood and chevron-moulded side pieces, with three heads descending from a concave tympanum. The south door displays the richest sculptural expression. Two sets of attached shafts carry capitals carved with beasts and charging armoured knights; the inner shafts feature water-leaf volutes as do their spurred bases. Three orders surround the tympanum: an outer enriched foliated roll mould encircles a dozen sunk medallions depicting the signs of the zodiac and the labours of the months, interspersed with warriors and Samson. Within this runs a thick roll adorned with cavorting animals playing musical instruments and a bishop figure at the apex. An inner enriched foliate roll encloses the tympanum itself, which is filled with loops of foliage encasing angels, human heads, and beasts, with a central figure of Christ in a mandorla. The door is hung on three large 19th-century scrolled and bifurcated strap hinges. Scratch dials are cut into the doorway surround.

The interior comprises a nave and chancel with 19th-century wooden tunnel-vault roofs. All window reveals are edged with roll-moulded surrounds. A continuous enriched band runs through the nave at sill level and rises over door heads, decorated with trefoil and flower ornament. The north wall carries carvings of a fox and rabbit apparently cooking another rabbit, and a monkey playing a pipe; later 19th-century additions include a wyvern and lion. Dogtooth moulding appears over the rear arches of the nave windows.

The chancel arch features niches to left and right, each with attached crocketed shafts, roll mould, and zig-zag. The arch itself is moulded with a billet-moulded drip, triple zig-zag, chevron moulding, and plain inner rolls. Moulded imposts are carried as a cornice across the side niches, which also bear large attached zig-zag shafts with crocketed capitals resembling examples at Bredgar, Bapchild, and several other churches near Sittingbourne, all ultimately deriving from Canterbury Cathedral work of the 1170s. The decorated strings in the chancel, partially embattled with punched relief holes, and the dogtooth moulding show evidence of the 19th-century restoration, which involved the complete dismantling and stone-by-stone rebuilding of the chancel. The wheel window surround within the interior is, like its exterior counterpart, adorned with winged beasts and foliate patterns.

Aumbries occupy the north and south walls; the southern example features a trefoiled head. The wheel window contains 19th-century glass in the style of the period, executed by W. Miller. Very faint traces of medieval wall paintings survive only in the chancel north-east window; the extensive original schemes were largely destroyed during the 1839–1841 rebuilding.

Monuments include a wall plaque for Thomas Boys (died 1599), comprising black and white alabaster with a strapwork base and side pieces featuring ribband and strapwork decoration, topped by a cornice with ball and steeple finials and an achievement in a strapwork surround. A second plain black and white wall plaque of similar date occupies the south wall, but its inscription is illegible.