Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is an Anglican parish church largely dating to the 13th century, with 15th-century elements and a restoration in 1849. The church is constructed of flint with limestone detailing, and has a limestone ashlar west tower. The nave, aisle, and chancel have lead roofs, while the tiled roof covers the main structure. The church's layout consists of a nave with a mid-19th century north aisle, a south porch, a simple chancel, and a west tower. An open timber gabled porch is supported by low stone walls. The nave features two-light windows with quatrefoil heads, and the chancel has lancet windows that likely represent a rebuild of an original early 13th-century chancel, retaining a corbel table. A south priest's door is also present. The west tower, dating to the 15th century, has two stages, angle buttresses, a three-light west window above a square-headed door, two-light bell openings, and a crenellated parapet with pinnacles. Heavy pilaster buttresses with pyramidal tops are also visible on the chancel.

Inside, the nave has a two-bay north arcade with double-chamfered arches on an octagonal column, replacing a 15th-century original. The roof is a 15th-century structure with a shallow pitched tie beam truss design, incorporating swirling mouchettes, moulded purlins, and a ridge. The tower arch is characterized by square imposts and a tall, panelled arch. A 19th-century chancel arch leads into a two-bay chancel, dating back to the 13th century but extensively restored in the 19th. Shafts with water-holding mouldings to bases and stiff-leaf capitals are positioned in the east corners, with one 13th-century capital used as a shelf. Decorative internal columned rere-arches frame the triple east lancets, and the east wall has moulded tiling below a string course. The fittings are all 19th century, featuring boldly moulded joinery with some carving. A limestone font, reminiscent of a 12th-century design, has narrow intersecting arches on the bowl. The pulpit showcases trefoiled panels with relief depictions of Christ and saints. A two-sided reader's desk and a sanctuary rail complete the interior furnishings. A 19th-century screen in the tower incorporates Flemish-style panels (possibly dating to the 17th century), depicting the Annunciation, Nativity, the Bearing of the Cross, and the Betrayal/Denial. Several wall tablets are present; one in the nave, dated to the late 18th century, is made of various marbles and features a triangular top with an urn, although the arms on the apron are now lost, commemorating James Shipton, his wife, and daughter who died in 1793. Three wall tablets are located under the tower. On the south wall is an early 18th-century tablet of various marbles with flanking pilasters, a cornice, and painted arms, commemorating Edmund and Ann Fitz James, who died in 1716. The north wall displays an 18th-century white marble tablet on grey, commemorating Nicholas Dymore, who died in 1804, alongside another similar, unidentified tablet.