Church of St Nicholas

Church of St. Nicholas

Parish church dating from the late 11th or 12th century with 13th-century additions and late 18th or early 19th-century alterations. The church is constructed of uncoursed stone rubble with ashlared dressings. The north porch features stone walls with red brick cornice to the sides and buff brick with ashlared stone dressings to the front. Plain tile roofs cover the building, with a shingled bell turret surmounted by a leaded roof.

The church comprises a nave with an integrated west bell turret, a chancel with a north chapel, a north aisle (narrower than the chapel and incorporating a western vestry), and a north porch.

The nave dates from the late 11th or 12th century. Its west gable end displays a round-headed doorway with small voussoirs and no imposts. The lower part of the west section of the south wall is thickened. Four south windows are present: a trefoil-headed light above the east end of the thickened section, a segmental-headed window of three cinquefoil-headed lights with hoodmould, a square-headed window of two cinquefoil-headed lights with hoodmould, and one 19th or 20th-century light. A blocked round-headed south doorway is also evident.

The bell turret, dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, is a rectangular structure rising from the west end of the nave. It features louvred pointed-arched belfry lights on each face and a leaded ogee spirelet with weathervane.

The chancel is 13th-century work, with two restored trefoil-headed lights to the south and two rendered east lancets.

The north chapel, also 13th-century, is gabled and flanked by two north buttresses. A 14th-century three-light east window displays cusped intersecting tracery. Two small north lancets and a blocked lancet to the west gable are present. The chapel walls include two north buttresses.

The north aisle dates from the 13th or 14th century, with a 19th-century vestry as a lean-to structure. The wall is thickened towards the west end. Small round-headed lancets flank the porch, and the vestry window consists of two chamfered round-headed lights with grilles.

The porch is late 18th or early 19th-century work, featuring bargeboards and a narrow lightly-fluted stone plat band across the gable. The pointed-arched brick outer doorway has double doors panelled at the base and half-glazed above. The stone inner doorway features a chamfered pointed arch and double doors, each with three fielded panels.

Interior Structure

The nave contains a three-bay arcade of unchamfered pointed arches springing from chamfered imposts. A lower, narrower restored arch at the east end of the arcade is probably associated with rood-loft stairs. A round-headed chancel arch with chamfered imposts separates the nave from the chancel. The arch between the chancel and north chapel is similar to the nave arcade.

Roofs

The nave roof was rebuilt in 1958 with seven cants. The chancel roof is ribbed and panelled in six cants. The chapel roof is plastered in five uneven cants.

Fittings and Monuments

A hagioscope connects the chapel and chancel, trefoil-headed on the chapel side, with a rectangular aumbry beside it on the chancel side. A hexagonal pulpit features a base of linenfold panelling and crocketted upper panels, possibly reused from a 15th-century screen. A circular font on five stone shafts has ring-moulded bases; the outer four shafts have scallop-shell plans.

Monuments include a half brass of a woman, circa 1480, on the south wall of the nave (probably removed from the chancel floor); a brass to Richard Ryege, died 1522, and his three wives. On the south wall of the chancel are brasses to the priest John Clerk, died 1501, and Thomas Chylton, died 1501, with his wife and three children. The chapel floor holds a brass to Henry Brockman, died 1630, depicting an armoured man with his wife, seven children, shields and border. A plain brass on the north wall of the chapel commemorates Helen Strout and her children, all died 1628. A black and white marble tablet on the south wall of the chancel honours James Brockman, died 1767, by J. F. Moore, featuring fluted side pilasters with classical enrichment, a concave-shouldered frieze surmounted by a sarcophagus and boat. A stone tablet on the west wall of the chapel commemorates Christophar Petty, died 1668, with coat of arms. A marble tablet on the south wall of the chapel honours W. Brockman, died 1741, with rectangular form, moulded edges, moulded cornice surmounted by arms and achievements, Latin inscription, and a plain rectangular tablet below giving English translation.