Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

This church dates from the 13th and 14th centuries and was substantially restored around 1863. It is built of squared coursed limestone with ashlar aisles, spire and tower, beneath lead and Collyweston slate roofs.

The building comprises an aisled nave, chancel, west tower and south porch. The south elevation of the chancel displays a 2-window range of 2-light windows. The left window has restored Y-tracery, while the right window features 19th-century tracery with a quatrefoil. A priest door with single chamfered surround sits between the windows. A single-stage angle buttress stands at the right-hand corner. The chancel has a gabled roof with 19th-century ashlar cornice, ashlar gable parapet and finial. The east window is a 5-light example with intersecting tracery, cusping and a quatrefoil circle, flanked by single-stage angle buttresses. The north elevation of the chancel contains a 2-light window to the right with renewed Y-tracery. A 19th-century gabled vestry projects forward to the centre, with a pair of 19th-century single-light windows in its gable wall. A lateral stone stack marks the intersection of vestry and chancel.

The south aisle comprises 4 bays with a 2-window range of 3-light windows to the right, featuring 2-centred arch-heads and panel tracery. Two-stage buttresses sit between windows and at the right-hand corner. A lean-to roof with plain parapets covers the aisle. The 3-light east window matches the south windows, while a 2-light west window features a quatrefoil circle. The south porch, with shallow gabled roof, projects left of centre. Its outer doorway has a hollowed and moulded 2-centred arch-head with semi-circular responds; the inner doorway features a 2-centred arch-head with moulded surround. Two-stage clasping buttresses occupy the corners, with an ashlar gable parapet and finial above. A blank bay lies to the left of the porch.

The north aisle contains a 3-window range of large 3-light windows with 2-centred arch-heads and panel tracery; the left window is a 19th-century restoration. A north doorway to the right of centre features a 2-centred arch-head with roll mouldings and 5 orders of shafts. Two-stage ashlar buttresses stand at the corners and between windows. The lean-to roof has a plain ashlar parapet. The 3-light east window matches the south windows; the 2-light west window displays geometrical tracery.

The nave clerestories show evidence of re-fenestration. The south clerestory is a 6-window range of 2-light square-head windows, while the north clerestory comprises 4 such windows. The shallow gabled roof features an ashlar gable parapet with ball finial and ashlar parapet to the south elevation.

The Perpendicular west tower rises in 4 stages with a moulded plinth and shallow 3-stage pilasters at the corners. A 2-light west window in the lower stage has hollow reveals. The south face contains a doorway with chamfered surround; quatrefoils set in square surrounds appear on the north, south and west faces of the second stage. The upper stage displays pairs of tall 2-light bell chamber openings with transoms and cusping to each face. A quatrefoil frieze and castellated parapet crown the tower, with gargoyles at the corners. The set-back octagonal spire has roll mouldings to its angles and two tiers of lucarnes to alternate faces.

The interior contains a 3-bay nave arcade of double-chamfered arches, each with one octagonal pier and polygonal responds. The two eastern arches occupy the tranceptal position and are separated from the other two arcades by wall sections. The north arcade is early 13th-century with stiff-leaf capitals; the south arcade is Decorated, with hollowed and moulded chamfers. The chancel arch and tower arch are both double-chamfered with polygonal and semi-circular responds respectively. The 19th-century roof structures possibly incorporate earlier timbers.

A late 13th-century piscina with attached triple sedilia stands to the right of the altar. Detached shafts and rocketed gables over arches, two with finials, are a notable feature. A 19th-century cusped-head recess occupies the return of the chancel arch, and an arch-head piscina exists in the south aisle. Remains of a rood loft stair are visible in the north aisle. A circular font on a shaft survives. Bench ends were carved by Reverend John Holdich in the late 19th century.

Stained glass includes fragments of medieval glass in two south aisle windows. Late 19th-century stained glass appears in the east window of the chancel, all south aisle windows and two north aisle windows.

Monuments include a wall monument in the south aisle to Henry Fowkes (died 1612) and his wife, showing kneeling figures facing each other across a prayer desk. Brass inscribed tablets lie in the chancel floor. An inscribed tablet to Charles Nettleton (died 1718) stands to the right of the altar, with three plain 18th-century inscribed tablets to the left. Various 19th-century monuments to the Tryon family of Bulwick Hall occupy the north and south aisles.