Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is an Anglican parish church dating from 1841 to 1850, designed by T.H. Wyatt and Brandon for Rev. Thomas Mozley. The church is constructed of flint, with the lower walls knapped, and dressed with Tisbury limestone. It has a tiled roof. The building combines the nave and chancel into a single vessel of four bays, with an entrance at the west end and a polygonal stair tower at the north-west corner. The original 14th-century bellcote has been replaced with a single bell housed in an open timbered bellcote. The west door has a moulded frame with a painted inscription and carved terminals to the hoodmould. Tall, two-light windows, based on those at Old Basing, are set between buttresses, featuring deep casement moulded reveals and mask terminals to the hoods. There are three-light windows at both the east and west ends of the building. The stone eaves are moulded with prominent fleurons. The gable ends are raised with terminal crosses and gabled kneelers. A carved ogee crocketed niches, copied from the Tower Church in Ipswich, is applied to the west door.

The interior features a 15th-century hammerbeam roof with ten bays, double moulded purlins and arch braces from the hammerbeams to the collars, supported by arched brackets on corbels. The materials for the roof were sourced from an Ipswich warehouse by Rev. Mozley. A stone-panelled screen divides the first two bays of the nave, carved with angles holding shields of various benefactors, including Oriel College, Oxford. Stencilled decoration and painted commandments adorn the east wall around the east window. Minton tiles are used throughout the building. The church holds a 12th-century font, a bowl with trumpet supports, in the entrance lobby, alongside an 1850 font of Caen stone, which is octagonal in shape. Oak pews are furnished with poppyhead bench-ends. A Casson’s Positive organ is also present. Monuments include a marble wall tablet to Anthony Cracherode, dated 1752, along with tablets to John Tanner, the Stephens family, and Lieut. John King, dated 1918. Cutbart Rives is commemorated by a 1574 brass. Other furnishings include a 17th-century table with a later top, and a short Kashgai runner. Stained glass from the mid-19th century is found throughout. Rev. Mozley, married to the niece of Cardinal Newman, actively influenced the design, and both he and his wife were published commentators and authors. The Noyes family, who served as incumbents from 1601 to 1651, were also early settlers in the American colonies. A medieval sarcophagus is located in the churchyard.