Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

This is a medieval parish church of 13th and 14th century date, substantially enlarged and restored in the 19th century. The north aisle was added in 1845, and the south aisle was added during a major restoration carried out in 1872–3 by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The church is constructed of dressed stone with ashlar dressings, and features a plain tiled roof. The tower, which rises in three stages, is topped with a cedar shingled bellcot beneath a broach spire. A timber porch projects to the south, with a vestry to the north.

The plan comprises an aisled nave with chancel and chancel chapels to the east. The tower stages are linked by a porch on the south side. The windows show a mix of periods: the first stage of the tower has double lancet windows with clock faces on all four sides above. The south side features restorations in 14th century style, whilst the north side has lancets with hood moulds. The north chancel window has a hood mould ending in gargoyle stops. The west door is set in a two-step round arch surround decorated with zigzag ornament. The south door, similarly ornamented, is housed within a gabled timber porch with carved bargeboards.

Interior

The nave has four bays with arcades carried on octagonal columns with moulded capitals. The arches have hood moulds terminating in human head stops. The roof, which dates from the early 15th century, features timber tie beams, though much is of restoration date. The chancel arch is Victorian, corbelled with pier capitals containing carved figures of praying angels.

The chancel comprises two bays. The south chapel has a chamfered arch, whilst the north chancel chapel has a two-bay arcade. The south chancel chapel is finished with a marble floor inlaid with geometric patterns, and features a ribbed and painted vaulted ceiling with a central round pendant and crown carvings. A blue and red enamelled wrought iron screen closes the west side of this chapel, with two centre standards approximately 6 feet high, arcaded on either side and decorated with fleur-de-lys ornament. The east window contains stained glass by Ward and Hughes, dating to circa 1865.

Fittings include an octagonal stone Perpendicular font with painted quatrefoil panels to its sides, set on an arcaded square stem. A late 19th century wooden pulpit with lattice pattern decoration stands in the nave. The organ casing, with fretwork decoration, is positioned to the west side of the north chancel chapel. Double arched sedelia are set into the south chancel wall. A mosaic stone and marble reredos completes the fittings.

Monuments

The north chancel chapel, known as the Evelyn chapel, contains the principal monuments. The north wall bears an aedicular wall monument to Francis Granville (died 1719), executed in marble with an arched and inscribed centre panel, moulded edges and a keystone above; palm fronds ornament the spandrels. The monument is crowned by a segmental pediment with flanking, free-standing, fluted Corinthian columns on a plinth, and has volute scrolls and an apron below.

At the centre of the chapel is a chest tomb to Sir John and Dame Thomasine Evelyn (died 1641), constructed of grey and white marble with grey corner piers and panelled sides. The black inscription panel is set below. White, life-size, recumbent effigies rest on the black lid: Sir John is depicted in armour with a griffin at his feet, his wife at his side.

The chapel walls contain further monuments: a monument to Jacob Evelyn (died 1795) on the north chancel chapel wall, a grey obelisk with a draped mourning female figure, by John Bingley of London; a monument to Edward Evelyn (died 1757) on the south wall of the north chancel chapel, in aedicular grey and white stone with flanking scrolls and a triangular pediment above; a monument to Sarah Smith (died 1794) on the north chancel wall, in grey and white stone with an inscribed plinth, a fan apron below and an oval garlanded urn above, by John Bacon RA; and a monument to George Evelyn (died 1770) on the south chancel wall, in dun coloured marble with a white, egg-shaped central inscribed panel, a white plinth and grey apron below on scroll support, with a broken pediment above carrying a cartouche coat of arms. The south chancel chapel contains a white recumbent life-size effigy to Barbara St Claire Macleay (died 1869), by F. Summers.