Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is an Anglican parish church dating from 1876-9, designed by J.L. Pearson. It is constructed of flint with brick dressings and slate roofs. The church comprises a nave and chancel, a south organ chamber, a south porch and vestry set at right angles to the chancel, and a south-west tower with a spire. The architectural style is Early English Geometric, characterised by bar tracery and hoodmoulds to the windows, including a 3-light east window and a 4-light west window, and a mid-wall string course. Brick buttresses are present. The three-stage tower features deep-set 2-light bell openings, and the broach spire is clad in slate. A clock is set within a stone frame on the west face. The porch has a 2-centred arch supported by impost shafts, with a matching inner door featuring nook shafts; scrolled hinges are on the doors.

The interior of the nave comprises six narrow bays, plastered with sill moulding and wide embrasures to the windows. It has collar beam trusses with solid arch braces and lower straight braces to the wall. The chancel arch is defined by an inner chamfered order resting on corbels, and a low screen wall. The chancel itself is of three bays, features stone banding, and wide window embrasures, and incorporates a tiled floor. A priest’s door is located on the south side, alongside a piscina displaying heavy ball flower decoration, likely salvaged from an earlier church on the same site. The vestry features an angle fireplace; the organ chamber, resembling a south transept, has a trussed rafter roof.

The font, situated at the west end of the church, has a conical bowl dating from the 12th century, decorated with crude zig-zag and chevron patterns. It is covered by a carved oak pyramidal cover from the 19th century. Notable stained glass includes a south nave window from 1882, and windows in the east and north chancel bays by Clayton and Bell.

Several wall tablets are affixed to the chancel’s north side, commemorating members of the Fowle family, including William Fowle (died 1840) and his wife. Other tablets include those for William T. Fowle (died 1837), George Fowle, and Reverend Henry Fowle; Thomas Fowle (died 1877); and Sybil Eccles (died 1977). South side tablets commemorate Elizabeth Earle (died 1780), Lady Scroges (died 1746), Samuel Collins (died 1679), and Emma Everett (died 1888). In the nave, a basalt floor slab marks the grave of Sir Sidney Medows (died 1792), and a gothic aedicule commemorates Lady Augusta Wellesley (died 1893). Tablets in the organ chamber remember Sydney and Edward Scroggs and their wives, and Evelyn Medows. A brass plate denotes a gift of a pump and tank for the use of poor cottagers during droughts, dated November 25th 1868. An Indo-Persian carpet is also present within the church.