Church of St Nicholas is a Grade II* listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 March 1961. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Nicholas
- WRENN ID
- high-postern-crag
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Glastonbury and Somerton MP: Sarah Dyke (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 March 1961
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Nicholas, Holton
- OS grid reference
- ST 685 268
- Coordinates
- 51.04016, -2.45016
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Nicholas is a parish church that dates from the 14th century and later. It is constructed from local stone rubble with Cary stone ashlar dressings, featuring Welsh slate roofing with a coped east gable on the chancel and plain gables on the north aisle, while the nave has a simple gable covered with plain clay tiles. The church has a three-cell plan consisting of a two-bay chancel, a two-bay nave, and a north aisle, along with a south porch, a west tower, and a vestry extension to the north aisle.
The chancel is plain, featuring an almost round-headed 16th-century style three-light traceried east window and a two-light window in a flat-topped recess on the south wall, which has an ogee-arched doorway to the east. The north aisle includes a two-light flat-headed window in the east wall and a pair of 19th-century two-light traceried pointed windows with labels in the north wall, separated by full-height offset buttresses. The nave has similar windows on the south wall, with the porch located between them, topped with a coped gable that is crowned with a block-type sundial. The porch has a moulded arch of near semi-circular form, with a plain chamfered pointed inner arch.
The tower, likely from the 14th century, is simple and consists of two stages. It features a plinth, diagonal buttresses with offsets on most of the lower stage, string courses, and an upper stage with corner gargoyles and a crenellated parapet. The west wall has a small two-light window with cusped heads under a flat arch without a label, while the south wall has a slit window for the belfry. The north wall is plain, and the second stage has a single two-light traceried window without a label on each face, with a small lean-to structure against the north side.
Inside, the chancel has a mostly 19th-century character, with a pseudo three-centred arch leading to the organ chamber in the north wall; the wide chancel arch may date back to the 14th century. The nave features a 15th-century style arcade leading into the north aisle, added in 1888, which uses panelled arches. Notable fittings include a plain tub-type font, possibly from the 12th century, and an octagonal pulpit front with panel tracery, likely from the 15th century.
Local climate
Church of St Nicholas receives an average of 840 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 57% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 61% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 54% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
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