Church Of St Nicholas

The Church of St. Nicholas is an Anglican parish church dating to the 13th century and subsequent periods. It is constructed of local uncoursed rubble stone with dressings of Doulting and Ham stone, and has Welsh slate roofs with sawn stone ridges. The church’s plan consists of a two-bay chancel, a three-bay nave, a west tower, a south porch, and a small north-east vestry.

The chancel, dating around 1300, features a chamfered plinth and angled corner buttresses. The east window is a 3-light design with Y-tracery above cinquefoil cusped lights, likely a repaired 18th-century window with an arched label and ball-flower stops. A 2-light trefoil cusped window with quatrefoil tracery, also with an arched label and ball-flower stops, is located on the south side. A small, single-light window of uncertain date, with a segmental arched head, is also present to the west, lacking a label. The lean-to vestry on the north side has a double trefoil cusped window. The nave’s south side has a chamfered plinth and two 2-light windows with 3-centre arched lights and plain chamfered mullions, likely dating to the 18th century, without labels. A rendered pilaster is visible at the south-east corner.

The south porch has two 12th-century archways; the outer arch incorporates reset stones with a rudimentary lozenge pattern and a plain keystone while the inner arch has a double chevron mould, chevron capitals, and plain jambs. A door of early date is also present. The tower is low, square, and single-stage, featuring offset angled buttresses, a string course, and an irregular battlemented parapet with corner pinnacles. A massive, two-stage north-east stair turret rises to almost the full height of the tower, having a stone chamfer roof, slit lights and a blocked west doorway. Above the blocked doorway is a 2-light window set in a semi-circular arched recess with a barely pointed arched light and a solid panel. Simple rectangular windows are present at a high level on the north and south sides, along with a small 2-light window on the east side, all fitted with external wooden louvred shutters. A finial is present on the earlier ridge line on the east wall.

Inside, the chancel has simple rere-arches to the windows and a plain, almost triangular, chamfered chancel arch. The nave has a 19th-century scissor truss roof, constructed in 1837 by William Matthews (builder), under the direction of Mr. Davies (architect). The tower arch is a plain, almost semi-circular design. Generally, the fittings are 19th-century, with the exception of the 13th-century font, featuring a low tulip bowl on a turned base. The church contains bells of interest, including a treble bell by Henry Jordon of London (dated 1450) with original hangings, and a tenor bell dating from 1390, originally attributed to a Bristol firm but later claimed to be dated 1583 with no maker's name by M Whitfield.

The church was probably of Saxon origin, with the first recorded mention occurring in 1217. It was originally dedicated to St. Giles and has also been known as Holy Trinity Church.