Church of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas, now a museum and reopened as a church in 2018, was originally built in the mid-14th century. It was largely demolished and rebuilt in 1769 by James Bridges, incorporating the original crypt and featuring a steeple and interior designed by Thomas Paty. The church is constructed of Bath stone ashlar and Pennant rubble.

The building showcases a Georgian Gothic Revival style. The east end has a windowless projection articulated by buttresses, below which are 14th-century rubble crypt walls with quatrefoil openings. The north elevation has seven bays, with a reset 15th-century three-light mullion window and a 20th-century door. Tall five-light Perpendicular windows are separated by buttresses, rising to a blind arcaded parapet. The crypt wall is visible on the south side, and a gabled porch is present in the second bay from the west. A parapeted vestry occupies the southwest corner and features a four-light south window.

The two-stage tower features a north door with an ogee hood and small entrance lobby, above which is an eight-foil oculus. The belfry has paired windows with ogee hoods, the bottom half blind and the top louvred, with clasping pilaster buttresses panelled with trefoil heads. A clock is situated on the south face. The octagonal, three-stage spire has oculi around the middle stage.

The interior was largely rebuilt after Second World War bombing. The fine 14th-century crypt has tierceron vaulting with animate and foliate bosses on triple attached shafts with foliate capitals and a continuous arcade moulding. An arched panel with figure stops and a hexafoil panel is situated at the east end. Fittings include an 18th-century baluster-shaped font and a 1480 brass eagle lectern. A 16th-century wall memorial features a panelled base, flanking buttresses with pinnacles, an arch with a panelled soffit, and an effigy.

The original 14th-century church was demolished in 1762. Bridges' design, built upon the old crypt, was an early and well-studied attempt at Gothic revival, and the windows share similarities with those of St Peter’s Church, Peter Street. The interior originally featured a fine Rococo plaster ceiling by Thomas Stocking.