Listed Building: CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS (1191576)

Church. C13 and C14 restored c.1863. Squared coursed limestone with ashlar aisles, spire and tower. Lead and Collyweston slate roofs. Aisled nave, chancel, west tower and south porch. South elevation of chancel of 2-window range of 2-light windows. Window to left has restored Y-tracery and window to right has C19 tracery with quatrefoil. Priest door, between windows, with single chamfered surround. Single-stage angle buttress to right hand corner. Gabled roof with C19 ashlar cornice, ashlar gable parapet and finial. 5-light east window with intersecting tracery with cusping and quatrefoil circle. Flanking single stage angle buttresses. North elevation of chancel has 2-light window, to right, with renewed Y-tracery. C19 gabled vestry breaks forward to centre. Pair of C19 single-light windows, with tracery, in gable wall. Lateral stone stack at intersection of vestry with chancel. South aisle of 4 bays. 2-window range of 3-light windows, to right, with 2-centred arch-heads and panel tracery. 2 stage buttresses between windows and to right hand corner. Lean-to roof with plain parapets. 3-light east window similar to south windows and 2-light west window with quatrefoil circle. Porch, with shallow gabled roof, breaks forward to left of centre. Outer doorway has hollowed and moulded 2-centred arch-head, with semi-circular responds. Inner doorway has 2-centred arch-head with moulded surround. 2-stage clasping buttresses, at corners, and ashlar gable parapet and finial. Bay to l ft of porch is blank. North aisle of 3-window range of large 3-light windows with 2-centred arch-heads and panel tracery. Window to left restored C19. North doorway, to right of centre, has 2-centred arch-head with roll mouldings and 2 orders of shafts. 2-stage ashlar buttresses at corners and between windows. Lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapet. 3-light east window similar to the south windows and 2-light west window with geometrical tracery. South nave clerestory is a 6-window range of 2-light square-head windows. North nave clerestory is a 4-window range of 2-light square-head windows. Some evidence of re-fenestration to window surrounds. Shallow gabled roof with ashlar gable parapet and ball finial and ashlar parapet to south elevation. Perpendicular west tower, of 4 stages, with moulded plinth. Shallow, 3-stage, pilasters at corners. 2-light west window, in lower stage, has hollow reveals. Doorway, with chamfered surround, in south face. Quatrefoils set in square surround, to north, south and west face of second stage. Pairs of tall, 2-light, bell chamber openings, with transoms and cusping, to each face of upper stage. Quatrefoil frieze with castellated parapet above. Gargoyles at corners. Set back octagonal spire, with roll mouldings to angles. 2 tiers of lucarnes to alternate faces. Interior: 3-bay nave arcade of double-chamfered arches each with one octagonal pier and polygonal responds. The 2 eastern arches are in the tranceptal position and are separated from the other 2 arcades by sections of wall. The north arcade is early C13, with stiff leaf capitals, and the south arcade is Decorated, with hollowed and moulded chamfers. Double-chamfered chancel arch, with polygonal responds, and similar tower arch with semi-circular responds. C19 roof structures, possibly incorporating some earlier timbers. Late C13 piscina with attached triple sedilia, to right of altar. Detached shafts and crocketed gables over arches; 2 with finials. C19 cusped-head recess to return of chancel arch, and arch-head piscina to south aisle. Remains of rood loft stair in north aisle. Circular font on shaft. Bench ends carved by Reverend John Holdich late C19. Stained glass: fragments of medieval glass to 2 south aisle windows. Late C19 stained glass to east window of chancel, all south aisle windows and 2 north aisles windows. Monuments. Henry Fowkes, d.1612, and wife, wall monument in south aisle with kneeling figures facing each other across a prayer desk. Brass inscribed tablets in floor of chancel. Charles Nettleton, d.1718, inscribed tablet to right of altar. 3, plain, C18 inscribed tablets to left of altar. Various C19 monuments to Tryon family of Bulwick Hall in north and south aisles. (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: p130; RCHM: An Inventory of Architectural Monuments in North Northamptonshire: p23; Holdich, Reverend Henry, Rector of Bulwick, Diaries, 1861-81, ms. in parish records)

Record last edited

Dec 16 2024 11:07AM