Parish Church Of St Nicholas

The Parish Church of St Nicholas is a Grade II listed building located on the west side of The Street in Radstock. It features a 15th-century west tower and a late medieval south wall and porch, possibly from the early 15th century. The rest of the church was rebuilt in 1879 in a Geometric style, designed by architect William Willcox of Bath. The church has a five-bay nave with a north aisle and a three-bay chancel with a vestry to the north. It is constructed from coursed limestone rubble and has weathered buttresses, with a slate roof that includes polychromatic bands.

The west tower consists of three low stages, with the upper, crenellated stage possibly being a later addition. It features outer diagonal buttresses, an angled stair turret on the north side, a cornice with corner gargoyles, a stepped and moulded plinth, and a west door that has been replaced by a window. The belfry windows are in the Decorated style, with two light cusping. The south nave windows include three square-headed Perpendicular style windows that replaced the original ones, along with two geometric type windows. The south porch has a 19th-century gable but retains a late 15th-century doorway with a canopied niche above, featuring a wild-man corbel. Inside, the porch has a barrel vault adorned with quatrefoils and bosses depicting animals and faces.

The interior of the church retains several medieval features, including a narrow opening for a rood loft stair and a cusped piscina in the south wall. The font is a lop-sided Norman cylinder with cable-moulding. There is a highly ornamental pulpit from 1888, which is octagonal on a column and decorated with mosaics, marble, and a statue of St. Nicholas. A heavily carved oak parclose screen in the Perpendicular style separates the chancel arch. The stone-carved five-bay reredos dates from around 1874, and there is a good Gothick organ located in the archway to the north of the chancel.

Significant fragments can be found at the west end, including a Roman inscription and an early 15th-century rood with the Virgin depicted on the reverse, as well as a churchyard cross-shaft. The graveyard is accessed from the north-east by two gate piers featuring blind tracery panels. There are two lightly carved early 19th-century headstones to the right of the porch, one of which is mounted on the wall. Additionally, there are two chest tombs: the one closest to the church is mid-18th century with carved piers, while the other, near the south porch, is dedicated to William Lansdown (who died in 1793) and features an oval inscription panel, angel busts, and cabriole corner piers.