Church of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a chapel of ease, formerly a parish church, likely dating from the late 13th or early 14th century. It was restored and extended in 1848 by R J Withers. The church is constructed from Forest Marble stone rubble and flint, with Hamstone ashlar dressings arranged in polychromic bands on the north side of the nave. The roofs are tiled, with lower courses of stone slates on the chancel roof. Gable ends have stone copings with cross finials, and an ashlar bell-cote sits between the nave and chancel.

The church is oriented south-west to north-east and comprises a nave and a chancel, the latter added in 1848. Angled buttresses define the chancel, which has 19th-century windows. The east window has three trefoiled lights under a centred head, the label featuring carved head stops similar to those at Sherborne Abbey. The north and south elevations have windows with two trefoiled lights and quatrefoils. The north door has a chamfered, two-centred head and continuous jambs. The nave's north wall has three buttresses, a 19th-century window, and two 16th or 17th-century windows of two segmental-headed lights in square heads. There are two similar two-light windows on the south wall. The early 14th-century west window has two pointed lights in a two-centred head. The 19th-century west doorway has two-centred mouldings with continuous jambs and a pair of doors with decorative strap hinges.

The interior is simple, with painted walls and probable 19th-century collar-braced roofs with moulded wall plates. Angel corbels have been reset in the nave. Narrow benches have elaborate carved ends depicting scenes from the Life of Christ and other religious figures and scenes; one near the pulpit was altered in 1848. C16 or C17 linenfold panelling is located behind the altar and by the west door. The pulpit is likely 19th-century but incorporates possible late-medieval panels. The font is also probably 19th-century, with an octagonal stone bowl on a cluster of four shafts with moulded capitals and bases. A fragment of a 17th-century wall painting of the Lord’s Prayer in black script is found at the western end of the nave's north wall, discovered in 1961. Memorial plaques in the nave commemorate those from Hilfield St Nicholas who died during the First and Second World Wars. The chancel arch is two-centred, with two chamfered orders, the outer one continuous with the jambs and the inner order dying into the responds. A Communion rail marks the entrance to the chancel, which has 19th-century encaustic floor tiles. Poppy-headed stalls are also present. The bell is dated 1726 and the registers date from 1565.