Church of St Nicholas

Church of St Nicholas

This late 19th-century church is a masterpiece in the Early English style, comprising a nave, chancel, north-west vestry, and south porch. Although the vestry is a new addition, the church otherwise follows the plan of its medieval predecessor, but differs entirely in detail and craftsmanship. The facing masonry consists of irregularly sized and snecked courses of rock-faced local conglomerate sandstone with carved work in grey-green Bridgend stone and pink freestone. The roofs are slate, with all gables coped and carrying finial crosses. The coping mouldings blend with the crosses at the apexes and with the carved figure bearers of the kneeler stones.

The south porch features multiple shafting to both the outer archway and inner doorway, with detached shafts in pink set against bold and deep-cut grey-green mouldings, some keeled and treated as lesser shafts. The arches have multiple mouldings and the capitals are enriched with profuse foliage in tight wreaths under circular abaci, exposing the stiff stems beneath. At the base the columns stand on large deeply hollowed mouldings with angle-leaves over the plinth corners. The outer arch rises to a finial niche containing a figure of St Nicholas shown with his episcopal crosier and in the act of benediction. Within the porch are side seats and, at the east side, an early gravestone found in four pieces built into the bellcote, now reassembled. It bears an incised cross with a Celtic head and Calvary base.

At the west is a bellcote with a trefoil-headed opening under a label mould with heads. Corner shafts with floral caps and two lancet sinkings in the sides with labels also terminated by heads frame the opening. Above the west wall the bellcote stands on double corbelling of mouldings above a trefoil arcade, with a stone roof and cross finial. The bell, retained from the earlier building, is dated 1516 and bears a cast inscription in Dutch.

The east window comprises three lights with detached pink shafts, female heads as label terminals, and birds and beasts in the stiff-leaf enrichments; little demons bite the sill. The side windows of the nave and chancel are single or double lancets, or slit windows copied from the earlier church. The west window is a tall single lancet. The chancel's south side has a slit window and a lancet, with another single lancet on the north side. The nave's south side has a single lancet to the west of the porch and a pair to the east. The north side of the nave has a slit window only. The vestry has two round windows to the north, a pair of lancets to the east, and a doorway to the west. In the angle between the vestry and the north wall of the nave is a chimney with corbels supported on the heads of quarrelling choirboys.

The church is entered by the south doorway, which continues the virtuosity of the porch. The interior displays miniaturised details throughout. The design retains stonework of the original chancel arch up to the imposts; the stonework has been dismantled and reconstructed, as is evident from the appearance of a trace of a painted fresco face in a low position at one side. Nothing remains of the original arch, which was described as "rude and pointed" according to Glynne's account, suggesting a 13th-century date, though Halliday's drawing shows it as round and possibly earlier. Other early stonework remains visible at high level in the chancel arch wall above the pulpit.

The nave is dominated by its enriched oak roof with high collar beams, arch braces carried down below carved cornices to carved stone corbels, two rows of purlins, and two stages of wind braces with carved bosses. On the left stands a carved pulpit with alabaster figures of three great Anglo-Catholic preachers—Keble, Liddon, and Pusey—in its panels. The pulpit has its own opening through the chancel wall with miniaturised vaulting. Another carved masterwork is the vestry doorway, with vesicas in the hollow of the arch mouldings featuring the Fathers of the Church, those of the Western Church on one side and those of the Eastern Church on the other. The architect's monogram is punched on the vestry door hinges. The nave windows have nook shafts; two of those on the south side are vaulted also. The stiff-leaf decoration is richly varied. The inner face of the entrance doorway carries a frieze of the heads of the apostles. The nave is paved in marble and the original heating apparatus stands beneath a central floor grille.

The chancel is entered by small brass gates. Its floor is of Numidian and Devonshire marble in red, black, and white, symbolising blood, earth, and purity. The altar is comparatively plainly carved and stands on a white marble podium, forming part of an integrated design with an alabaster reredos incorporating figures carved in white marble, stained glass, and side silk drapes hung on metal brackets. The central carved figures are the Virgin and Child, with angels and prophets. The east window shows the Crucifixion with St Mary and St John; the window shafts are in Connemara marble. On the south side a piscina and aumbry have been retained in situ, having been discovered under the plaster of the earlier church.

The chancel roof is also massively timbered in oak, with angels on the cornices. A 14th-century truss from the earlier chancel is retained, repositioned against the east face of the chancel wall. The pews and prayer desks are in teak, the ends of the former carved with flowers and animals and the latter carved with intricate decoration of fish and pelicans.

The stained glass throughout is by Burlison and Grylls of London, to Halliday's design. The architect's drawing for the east window has been preserved. Interestingly, in the representation of the Crucifixion the skull of Golgotha shown in the drawing has been omitted from the window. The west window represents St Nicholas.

The medieval cylindrical stalactite font was recovered and placed on a new plinth. It was found in the floor of the earlier building; a square font was in use in the mid 19th century. At the entrance there is also a medieval water stoup, found in the south wall of the earlier nave, similarly placed on a new plinth.

Memorials at the west are dedicated to members of the Voss family, to James George of Nicholaston, and to the Rev C R Wells. At the north side are memorials to Miss Olive Talbot and to those who fell in the Great War.