Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas, Oddington

A former Anglican parish church, now redundant, built over several centuries from the 12th to the 19th century. The building is constructed of coursed, squared and dressed limestone with a stone slate roof.

The church comprises a 12th-century nave (now the south aisle), a 13th-century nave to the north of the south aisle, a 13th-century three-stage tower at the east end, a 14th-century projecting porch on the south, and a buttressed 15th-century chancel at the east end.

The south aisle features a keel-moulded string course and a small lancet window at the west end with keel-moulded stopped hood. A monument to John Gardner, his wife and four children stands on the south wall, topped with a winged cherub and decorated with three carved faces and a festoon below. Three 14th-century windows with reticulated tracery and stopped hoods flank the porch on the south wall. The porch entrance is a pointed arch with a mass dial on its left side.

The tower is possibly built on the foundations of a 12th-century chancel. It has a 14th-century window with a quatrefoil in its south wall, lancet windows in the east wall and on each face of the second stage, and 2-light belfry windows on each face of the third stage. An embattlemented parapet with gargoyles crowns the tower.

The chancel's south wall contains two 14th-century lancets and a 20th-century plank priests' door within a pointed-arched surround. Three separate cinquefoil lights occupy the east end, with two further 14th-century lancets in the north wall.

The nave's north wall features a 20th-century rectangular casement lower left, a partly blocked pointed-arched 15th-century doorway with stopped hood and 19th-century 'Y' tracery at the top, and a 3-light 15th-century west window. The roof has flat and slightly stepped gable-end coping with roll-cross saddles.

Interior

Stone bench seats within the porch bear incised lines where yeomen are said to have sharpened their arrows.

A 12th-century pointed-arched entrance to the south aisle is flanked by engaged columns with stiff-leaf capitals and moulded imposts, with a keel-moulded hood above featuring beast's-head stops. Two steps descend to the south aisle.

A 13th-century two-bay double-chamfered pointed-arched arcade features composite piers and responds with octagonal or semi-octagonal moulded capitals; traces of painted decoration remain on both arches. A similar but blocked arch with a round-headed entrance provides access through blocking to a chapel at the base of the tower, with a fragment of stone sculpture to the upper left of the pointed arch. A 13th-century pointed arch separates the chancel from the nave, with a 19th-century wooden screen inserted.

A 13th-century pointed-arched piscina with stopped hood stands in the east wall of the chapel. Two original cinquefoil image niches occupy the east end of the nave either side of the altar.

Red and black tile floors cover the chancel; elsewhere are flag floors. A coved plaster ceiling hides the timbers of the south aisle roof. The nave roof is 15th century with braced tie beam and corbels decorated with carved faces. The chancel has a simple 19th-century roof with collar.

A very large mid-14th-century Doom wall painting dominates the north wall of the nave. Traces of wall painting appear on the east wall of the chapel and above the image niches at the east end of the chancel.

A 15th-century octagonal font with quatrefoil decoration on each face stands at the south end of the nave. A 17th-century carved oak hexagonal wooden pulpit with sounding board is present, along with a 17th-century altar table, 18th-century communion rails, and 19th-century chairs and pews. A 15th-century oak bench with carved ends occupies the chapel.

Monuments include a wooden benefaction board left of the west window in the nave recording a benefaction by Joseph Harvey of Churchill by will dated 1812. A small square canvas bearing Queen Victoria's royal arms hangs right of the window. Royal arms of William IV are painted over the chancel arch.

Three monuments occupy the north wall of the chancel: a white-on-black monument to Reverend Joseph Owen, curate of the parish, died 1826; a brass plaque to The Honourable John Talbot Rice, died 1899; and a limestone and marble monument to Thomas Chamberlayne, died 1640, comprising an oval plaque with keyed surround flanked by two Doric columns supporting an open segmental pediment enclosing a cartouche, with carved bones, skulls and other decoration at the bottom flanking a plaque recording the monument's erection at the expense of John Chamberlayne.

The south wall displays a white and grey marble plaque to Charlotte Rice, died 1832, another to Elizabeth Lenthal, died 1830, and a brass plaque to Reverend Edward Rice, Dean of Gloucester, died 1862 below. Commandment boards are set in image niches either side of the altar.

History

The church originally belonged to St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester. It was ceded to the See of York in 1157 and exchanged with the Crown in 1545. In the 13th century Oddington was a residence of the Archbishop of York.