Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a parish church with a 15th-century west tower and a main body rebuilt in 1846, with a north extension of vestries, an organ chamber, and chancel extension dating from 1913/14. The 1846 work was carried out by George Gilbert Scott for Baron Portman, and the 1913/14 alterations by Green of Blandford for Viscount Portman.

The tower is constructed of greensand ashlar, while the main church body is of chequered flint with squared greens and blocks. The roofs are tiled with stone-slate verges and end stone copings. The west tower has three stages, with a weathered plinth divided by strings and an embattled parapet bearing gargoyles. A rectangular north vice turret has rectangular loops and diagonal buttresses of four stages; a southern buttress incorporates a pointed niche. The 15th-century west doorway has a four-centred, moulded head and a label with carved, square stops. Above this is a three-light, pointed window with Perpendicular tracery and a stopped label. Niches are located on the first and second stages of the south wall and the second stage of the west wall. Two-light belfry windows with Perpendicular tracery sit beneath pointed heads with labels. The embattled parapet has crocketted finials, some of which have recently been removed. The south aisle features two square-headed, Perpendicular tracery windows of two lights to the west of the porch and three lights to the east. The east aisle wall has a two-light perpendicular tracery window under a pointed head. The eastern north and south chancel windows are each of two lights under pointed heads with quatrefoils. The south wall contains paired lancets with labels bearing head stops. The east chancel window is a five-light design with idiosyncratic perpendicular tracery under a two-centred head. The north nave wall has three lancets and a two-light pointed head window with a label. The 1913/14 range includes square-headed Perpendicular windows and a four-centred doorway. A gabled south porch leads to a south door with a chamfered, four-centred head and reset black letter inscriptions dated 1455.

Inside, a five-bay pointed arch arcade features two chamfered orders springing from octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. A pointed, moulded chancel arch is coupled with attached respond shafts, also with capitals and bases. The tower arch is pointed, with two hollow chamfered orders that die into the responds. The nave roof is arch braced with collar beams, divided into sub bays, and springing from corbels. The chancel roof is barrel-vaulted with central, carved angel bosses. An aisle has a tie-beam and king-post roof. Above the south door is a reset medieval sculpture of a farrier, said to depict St Elio. A tapering, octagonal 12th-century font stands on an octagonal stem and square base, the base cut to take four detached shafts. Various 18th, 19th, and 20th century monuments are present, alongside a 19th-century cusped, ogee-headed piscina and 19th-century glass. Other features date from the 19th and 20th centuries.