Church of St Nicholas is a Grade I listed building in the Dorset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 4 October 1960. A Early C13 Church.

Church of St Nicholas

WRENN ID
twisted-clay-grove
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Dorset
Constituency
North Dorset MP: Simon Hoare (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
4 October 1960
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Nicholas, Manston
OS grid reference
ST 816 150
Coordinates
50.93459, -2.26257
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Nicholas is a parish church largely dating to the 13th, 14th, and 17th centuries, with a general restoration in 1885 and the addition of a north vestry. The chancel is early 13th century, the nave and north aisle are 14th century, and the west tower was likely built in 1534. The aisle was shortened and new nave windows inserted in the 17th century, and a south porch was added in the 19th century.

The church is constructed of coursed, squared rubble with ashlar dressings, featuring tiled, gable-ended roofs, some with stone copings. The west tower has three stages separated by string courses, an octagonal vice turret, and an embattled parapet with gargoyles. The west doorway is under a moulded, 4-centred arch within a square surround, with a shield stop to the label. The west window is a 3-light design with panel tracery. The second stage has a rectangular window, and the third stage features 2-light panel tracery windows with pierced stone panels. The south nave wall contains three windows with likely 17th-century "Y-tracery" under 2-centred heads, with returned labels. The north and south chancel walls have lancets, the south wall flanking a 2-centred, chamfered door. The east chancel window comprises three graduated lancets under a relieving arch, bearing an inscription from 1690. The vestry has paired lancets, and the aisle features lancets that may have been reused, along with an eastern 2-centred door. A gabled south porch features a 2-centred, chamfered arch, and the south door has a moulded 2-centred head with continuous jambs.

Inside, the chancel arch is 2-centred with two chamfered orders dying into flat jambs. The tower arch is 2-centred with blind tracery soffits. A three-bay aisle arcade has 2-centred arches of two chamfered orders, continuous with piers and responds; the west bay is blocked. A mid-14th century window, originally external, is located between the aisle and vestry. A 19th-century triplet sits above the chancel arch. A squint provides a view from the aisle to the chancel. The roof is a 17th-century ribbed, plaster barrel-vaulted design with tie beams. The chancel has a 19th-century boarded barrel-vault, and the aisle ceiling is flat and plastered. A 4-centred, chamfered doorway leads to the tower vice. A trefoiled piscina is situated in the chancel, and a wall monument dating to 1688/9 commemorates Grace Morris, featuring a flame finial, urn, flowered pilasters, and a spherical base on a cherub-headed bracket. Early glass and 19th-century pews, pulpit, and font are also present.

Local climate

Church of St Nicholas receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 52% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 64% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 28 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 11 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.

More on this building

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