Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St Nicholas is a Grade II* listed church located in Foxholes Butterwick. It dates back to the 14th century, with some 12th-century elements at the west end. A late 18th-century bellcote and a porch were added during a restoration in 1882, carried out by G Fowler Jones. The church is built of coursed squared sandstone with a slate roof, while the bellcote and part of the west end are rebuilt in red brick in a random bond. The porch features a timbered gable and a stone flag roof.

The church has a continuous nave and chancel, with a south porch. A 19th-century battered buttress at the west end incorporates earlier carved masonry, and the gable end is made of tumbled brick. The gabled bellcote sits on a plinth and has two round-arched openings along with a gable cross. The porch has a restored Tudor-arched doorway beneath the gable, which features a scalloped barge board, and a 19th-century nail-studded door.

On the east side, there are two single lights with restored curvilinear tracery, with the easternmost light positioned between reset corbel heads. A blocked lancet is located in the centre, and there are no openings on the north side. The east window, dating from the 19th century, is square-headed and contains three lights with curvilinear tracery, topped with a hoodmould and a reset corbel head above. The gables are coped.

Inside, the church features a plain piscina and aumbry in the south wall of the chancel, as well as a low segment-arched tomb niche in the north wall of the chancel. A splendid drum font with arcading and cable-moulding rests on an original shaped foot and circular base. Notable monuments include an early 14th-century effigy, likely of Robert FitzRalph, Lord Grimthorpe and Greystock, who died in 1317. He is depicted wearing a long surcoat and holding a shield with faint traces of the arms of Grimthorpe, with his crossed legs resting on a puppy and a winged head. There is also a late 13th-century graveslab featuring a sword, shield, and carved vines enclosed in a dogtooth border.