Church of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a Grade II listed building constructed between 1877 and 1879 by Thomas Algernon Dorrien-Smith as a memorial for his uncle, Augustus Smith, who passed away in 1871. It is built from squared and coursed granite with a stone-coped slate roof and features a cruciform plan with a southeast tower.

The church has a three-bay nave that includes a west rose window with a central quatrefoil at the gable end, along with chamfered lancet windows. The transepts and the two-bay chancel also have similar lancet windows, with the chancel featuring three lancets at the east end. There is a gabled north porch that has both inner and outer chamfered pointed-arched doorways, which are adorned with decorative hinges on the doors.

The tower consists of three stages and includes a similar doorway and lancets, as well as chamfered four-centred and louvred belfry windows. It has a chamfered string course and parapet, topped with a pyramidal roof.

Inside, the church boasts an open arch-braced roof supported by stone corbels. Notable interior features include a marble reredos dedicated to Walter M. Smith Dorrien, who died in 1924, a decorative encaustic tile sanctuary floor, pitch-pine pews, a Gothic-style chancel rail and pulpit, and a coloured marble font on a quatrefoil base. There are 19th and 20th-century wall memorials to the Dorrien-Smith family, and a commemorative plaque in the porch lists the names of William Nicholls, the head carpenter, and Thomas Chudleigh, the head mason.

The church is enhanced by fine stained glass windows designed by C E Kempe, including three east lancets depicting St. Andrew, the Crucifixion, and St. Nicholas, along with a highly-coloured west window featuring angels and bells. Additionally, the north transept window was created by Tower, a pupil and partner of Kempe.