Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas on the west side of Bromham High Street is an Anglican parish church of exceptional architectural and historical significance. Originating in the 12th century, it underwent substantial development in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. The chancel was rebuilt in 1865 by architect W. Slater, though it incorporates earlier features including a reused shafted east window from the 13th century.

The building is constructed principally of ashlar and ironstone rubble with stone slate roofs. The crossing tower dates from the 13th century and retains a 15th-century bell-stage and recessed spire. The nave contains fragments from the 12th century visible in its north wall, a 14th-century south arcade, and 15th-century fenestration. The south aisle and a two-storey south porch were rebuilt in ashlar during the early 18th century.

Exterior Features

The nave is of rubble stone with a five-light Perpendicular west window. The north side displays 15th-century battlements and two large flat-headed three-light windows of the same period. The tower features a north stair tower and sits above a north side ashlar vestry, probably dating from 1843 by architect G.P. Manners. The rubble stone tower is topped with an ashlar 15th-century bell-stage containing two-light openings, battlements, corner pinnacles, and a recessed spire.

The chancel, rebuilt in ashlar in 1865, has three lancet windows to the north and three to the east end. The south-east chapel is the most ornate part of the building, constructed in ashlar with exceptionally decorated stonework. It displays large five-light windows with carved stops to hoodmoulds and carved angels at the window heads. The chapel has a moulded plinth, buttresses with buttress-shafts and pinnacles, a cornice featuring gargoyles, carved shields and bosses, richly panelled battlements, and ornamented pinnacles over the buttresses. The east window is topped by a canopied niche.

The three-window south side of the chapel incorporates the remodelled 13th-century south transept, with the left bay broader than the right. In the right bay stands a fine ogee-headed small doorway. The ashlar south aisle has one large five-light Perpendicular-style window to the right of the porch and a two-light window to the left, with plinth, cornice, and battlements continuing along its length.

The projecting two-storey porch displays similar detailing to the aisle. It has a two-light upper window and a tall pointed-arched doorway with a reset 1641 plaque above. Outside stairs on the west side lead to a fielded-panelled first-floor door. An eroded 18th-century wall memorial is visible on the porch exterior. The rubble stone west end is finished with a two-light Perpendicular window.

Interior Features

The porch contains a fan-vaulted canopy over the doorway with a Tudor-arched entrance. The nave features a 14th-century south arcade of four bays with octagonal piers and moulded arches. The 15th-century roof is of low pitch with arched braces rising from carved head corbels. Similar corbels exist in the south aisle, though that area has a flat ceiling rather than vaulting. Two 13th-century hollow-moulded arches sit beneath the tower, with a 15th-century small north side plank door visible nearby.

The former south transept contains a 1492 tierceron vault with a curious central pendant and opens to the south-east chapel via a Perpendicular arch ornamented with fleurons. The chapel has two similar north arches to the chancel. It contains two canopied niches, one on the south wall and one on the east. The chapel is exceptional for its panelled and painted roof with moulded beams, shields in panels, and arched braces springing from six carved corbels on each side. Fifteenth-century wooden screens renewed in the 15th century close off the west and north arches.

The chancel, rebuilt in 1865, has shafted north windows of that date and an elaborate shafted five-arch east wall. The east wall design employs two small pointed arches flanking three arches that frame the east windows. The 1865 renovation included stencil decoration throughout.

The furnishings include an 1843 octagonal stone pulpit by G.P. Manners with pendants, an octagonal font with pendants, and a stone three-panel carved reredos from 1910.

Glass and Monuments

The stained glass is of considerable quality. One south-east window contains circa 1492 glass in its traceried head. The east window is a fine example by Burne Jones for Morris & Company, dating to approximately 1870. The west window is signed by W.H. Constable and dated 1879, dedicated to T. Moore, the poet. The east window of the south-east chapel dates from approximately 1885.

The south-east chapel contains an exceptional series of monuments. These include a tomb-chest of Sir R. Tocotes (died 1457) with an alabaster effigy, a north-east tomb-chest with fan-vaulted canopy and kneeling brass image to Elizabeth Beauchamp dating from circa 1492, and a south-east tomb-chest with canopy combining Renaissance and Gothic detail belonging to Sir Edward Baynton (died 1593). A brass to John Baynton (died 1516) is also present. The east arcade contains plain plaques commemorating various Bayntons and Baynton-Starkys from the 17th to 20th centuries.

Under the tower are incised 17th-century plaques to Mary and Ferdinando Hughes, one featuring a skeleton and shroud. A north side memorial commemorates J. Banks (died 1772). The nave north wall displays two large 19th-century Gothic memorials to the Gaby family of Westbrook and early 17th-century plaques to E. Richardes and M. Seagar. The south aisle contains a fine marble memorial to Sir W. Norris of Nonsuch (died 1730) and a draped plaque signed by Ford of Bath commemorating J. Andrews (died 1763).

The church stands as a notable example of late medieval ecclesiastical architecture, particularly distinguished by the exceptionally ornate south-east chapel built in 1492 for Sir R. Tocotes and Sir R. Beauchamp, and by its outstanding array of monuments spanning several centuries.