Church of St Nicholas is a Grade II* listed building in the Vale of White Horse local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 November 1966. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Nicholas
- WRENN ID
- grim-passage-quill
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Vale of White Horse
- Constituency
- Didcot and Wantage MP: Olly Glover (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 November 1966
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Nicholas, Main Street, East Challow
- OS grid reference
- SU 380 882
- Coordinates
- 51.59185, -1.45171
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Nicholas is a Grade II* listed building located on Main Street in East Challow. It dates from the mid to late 13th century and underwent restoration, with the west front rebuilt in 1858 and the south tower reconstructed in 1884. The church is constructed of uncoursed limestone rubble, partially rendered on the north side, and features limestone ashlar quoins and dressings, topped with a stone slate roof.
The structure includes a nave and chancel with a south aisle. The east window, dating from the mid 19th century, has three lights and Kentish tracery. On the north side of the chancel, there is a late 13th-century two-light window with mid 19th-century cusped heads, alongside a 15th-century two-light square-headed window. The south side of the chancel features a mid 19th-century two-light window designed in a late 13th-century style.
The church has a south vestry, an aisle, and a late 19th-century two-storey tower to the west, which is topped with a crenellated parapet and contains one-light windows with cusped heads and buttresses. The mid 19th-century clerestorey windows are also notable. The north side of the nave has a similar mid 19th-century one-light window, a late 15th or early 16th-century three-light arch-headed window, a 13th-century one-light window, and a mid 19th-century two-light window to the west, along with offset buttresses.
The west gable features a mid 19th-century three-light French Gothic window above a pointed moulded doorway leading to a plank door with decorative iron hinges, and a 13th-century stoup to the south. The gabled roof has moulded kneelers.
Inside, the chancel has an aid 19th-century roof and a late 13th-century pointed moulded blocked doorway to the vestry. The late 13th-century double-chamfered chancel arch rests on engaged columns with bell capitals, and there is a three-bay oak screen from 1905 with traceried heads. The nave has a mid 19th-century roof, a mid 19th-century pulpit and tester, a 13th-century circular font, and a late 13th-century three-bay south arcade with double-chamfered arches and an additional mid 19th-century west bay. The south aisle features a mid 19th-century roof and arches to the east and west. The stained glass includes late 19th and 20th-century pieces, as well as 15th-century stained glass in a late 15th or early 16th-century window in the north wall of the nave.
Local climate
Church of St Nicholas receives an average of 750 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 69% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 63% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 55% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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