Church Of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

This is a substantial parish church of 14th and 15th-century date, standing on the west side of Islip High Street. It was restored in 1854–55, and a vestry was added in 1881. The building is constructed of squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings, featuring a tower and spire with lead roofs. It comprises an aisled nave, chancel, north vestry, south porch, and west tower.

The chancel's south elevation displays a two-window range of three-light Perpendicular windows with four-centred arch heads. Two-stage buttresses stand between the windows and at the corner. A priest door to the left of centre has roll moulding and a four-centred arch head. Above is a shallow gabled roof with ashlar parapet and central gargoyle. The five-light Perpendicular east window has hollow reveals and four-centred arch heads, with an ashlar gabled parapet above featuring a finial. The north elevation of the chancel is similar to the south but with a 19th-century lean-to vestry positioned between the windows. The vestry has a two-light Perpendicular-style east window.

The south aisle presents a three-window range of three-light Perpendicular windows with hollow reveals and four-centred arch heads, separated by two-stage buttresses. A lean-to roof with ashlar parapets and three gargoyles crowns this range. The east and west ends display similar Perpendicular three-light windows. The south porch to the left of centre has a roll-moulded outer arch with semi-circular responds and a roll-moulded inner arch, both originally featuring niches with 20th-century figures above. The return walls of the porch contain two-light windows set in internal arched recesses.

The north aisle comprises four bays with a three-window range of three-light Perpendicular windows with hollow reveals and four-centred arch heads. The bay to the right of centre contains a north doorway with moulded stone surround. Two-stage buttresses divide the bays. A lean-to roof with ashlar gable parapets and two gargoyles tops this elevation, with similar three-light Perpendicular east and west windows.

The nave clerestory presents a four-window range of two-light Perpendicular windows with hollow reveals and four-centred arch heads, beneath a shallow gable roof with ashlar parapets, finial, and four gargoyles to each elevation.

The west tower consists of four stages with plinth, the upper stage subdivided. Shallow ashlar angle buttresses strengthen the corners. The Perpendicular west doorway has an ogee-head surround with quatrefoils in the spandrels. Above it sits a three-light window with ogee-head hood mould. Quatrefoil windows with square surrounds appear on the north, south, and west faces of the third stage. The fourth stage is ashlar, featuring two-light bell-chamber openings to each face, each with stone lattice work in the lights and an ogee-head hood mould. A quatrefoil frieze with diamond panels runs above, with gargoyles at the corners. The set-back ashlar spire above is decorated with crockets and two tiers of lucarnes.

Interior

The interior features a four-bay nave arcade of Perpendicular arches with piers formed of chamfered projections to both nave and aisles, lacking capitals but with slim shafts and capitals to the openings. Each arch has an ogee-head hood moulding. The chancel arch is double-chamfered and moulded with semi-circular responds, as is the tall tower arch. All windows are set in arch-head recesses with low cills. The 19th-century roof structures retain original angel and saints' head corbels, and fragments of Perpendicular roof structure are reset at the east end of the chancel roof.

A piscina to the right of the altar has a corner shaft with openings in two directions. The chancel screen, rood figures, and chancel furnishings date to the early 20th century and are by Temple Moore. A holy water stoup with shallow vaulted niche stands to the right of the south door. The font is octagonal, with an 18th-century cover.

The church contains several monuments. Dame Mary Washington (died 1624) and Catherine Curtis (died 1626) are commemorated by identical arch-head tablets with detached columns supporting an entablature on the north and south walls of the chancel. John Nicholl and his wife are recorded in a pair of brasses with ogee-head surrounds in the chancel floor, reconstructed in the early 20th century by Reverend H. Macklin. Elizabeth Hargreaves (died 1791) is recorded in an inscribed tablet above the north door, and Reverend R.M. Vane (died 1842) in an inscribed tablet above the south door.

Glazing includes fragments of pre-19th-century glass and 19th-century stained glass in the three east windows, south chancel window, and west tower window. The chancel east window is by Kempe, and the north aisle east window is by Clayton and Bell.