VISITING
ST NICOLAS
It's usually possible to
visit St Nicolas Church
between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm on weekdays. Sometimes the church is locked
during the day but there will always be someone in the church office
just opposite the south door who can let you in. The church is also
open
during and after services on Sunday, but not on Saturdays at present.
If you want to check that no
services or events are booked for the time you intend to visit, just
call 01635 47018 or email office@st-nicolas-newbury.org. THE
BUILDING
Very little now remains of the original Norman church on
this site, and the present structure is largely the 16th century church
which replaced the Norman building. It is entirely in the Perpendicular
style, ashlar-faced inside and out. The work was mainly completed in
one generation, between about 1500 and 1512. The carved bosses have the
initials I.S., i.e. John Smallwood, alias John Winchcombe, who became
known as Jack of Newbury, a wealthy clothier, whose will (1519) reveals
that he gave money towards the ‘buylding and edifying’ of the church,
probably then nearing completion. On the wall above the tower arch is a
corbel with the figure of an angel bearing a scroll dated 1532. This is
generally accepted as the date when the tower, and thus the whole
building, was completed. BRIEF
HISTORY
St Nicolas Church was probably originally a chapelry of
Thatcham. At the dissolution of the monasteries the benefice was vested
in the Crown and remained so except during the Commonwealth. There is
evidence that the church was used both as a prison and a hospital after
the Second Battle of Newbury in 1644. In 1854 the benefice was
transferred to the Diocese of Oxford.
EXTERIOR
A walk
round the outside of the church is recommended: look especially at the
proportions and fine detail of the tower.
The two arched gateways facing east onto Bartholomew Street, built by
Fuller White in 1770, are the earliest examples of the Gothic Revival
style in Berkshire.
INTERIOR(clicking
some of the numbers will open up pictures. For bigger versions of these
images, click here
to access the building slideshow)
1
Monument
to Griffin Curteys of Greenham, MP for Ludgershall,
Wilts, 1562-3, who made a number of charitable bequests to the poor of
Newbury. He died 30 November 1587. Below are the figures of three
ladies kneeling (wives?), six boys and five girls.
2 Octagonal
stone font,
by Henry Woodyer, presented in 1866.
3 The
1914-18
War Memorial in the form of a triptych is in the
style of Sir Ninian Comper, and is perhaps by the Revd. Percy Dearmer
or the Mowbrays firm.
4 The tower
above, perhaps the finest architectural feature of the church, contains
a ring of ten bells with a continuous history from 1532. High above the
tower arch the ‘foundation angel’ corbel is just visible.
5 The memorial
brass to Jack of Newbury has the inscription in
Gothic letters: ‘Off yo charite pray for the soule of John Smalwode als
Wynchcom & Alys hys wyfe, which John dyed the XV day of
February A° dm M°CCCCC°XIX.’ The costumes of the figures are typical of
the period. In the corners are roundels, the lower right is of St John
the Baptist with a lamb.
Among many other brasses
and memorials are those to Hugh Shepley, 1596 (past Rector) and above
(difficult to read now) George Widley, Minister, 1641.
6 The
cut-out of a Blue
Coat Schoolboy marks the founding in 1706 by the
Corporation of a Blue Coat School for the education and clothing of
twenty boys. It is a copy of the original stolen in 1972. Alms obtained
from a poor box placed below were used to support the school.
7
The second
nave pillar from the east end has wave moulding at
the head instead of plain hollows and is probably earlier than the
others.
8
An organ
was first mentioned in an inventory of 1552 and this instrument is the
fourth in St Nicolas Church. It was renovated and given a mobile
console in 1972. Click here
for more details.
9 The
large brass
eagle lectern was given in 1867.
10 The pulpit
is an unusual and fine example of Jacobean work, paid for by Mrs.
Margaret Cross in 1607 (the sounding board, rear panels and base are
modern). The star in a shield and strap-work pattern is painted in
black and gold. John Wesley preached from here on his first visit to
Newbury, 3 February 1740.
11 The
reredos
by Sir Ninian Comper in Caen stone was dedicated in 1907. It shows Our
Lord enthroned in a rainbow and the four Evangelists holding scrolls
with the first words of their Gospels in Greek.
12
The chancel
is largely Victorian. The arches, the linings of the walls in
Derbyshire alabaster, and the oak roof were by Henry Woodyer, 1858-66.
The chancel roof has bosses with carvings of symbols of the Communion,
St Peter and a pilgrim’s badge.
13 In
the restoration of 1983-5 both nave
and high altars were newly dressed with coloured
wool frontals as befits Berkshire’s only ‘wool church’, designed and
made by John Lennon and Talbot Potter of Kingston St Mary Weavers,
Somerset. The choir stalls (1985) are in English oak by Michael Thomas.
14
In the Lady
Chapel is a white marble tomb to John Kimber who,
at his death in 1793, left money for almshouses in the town which still
exist.
15
The 18th century painted
boards contain texts of the Ten Commandments, the
Creed and the Lord’s Prayer from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. They
were made under an edict by George III to encourage the education of
the common people in the Christian faith.
16
The fine oak roof has corbels with figures of angels
holding shields charged with emblems of the Passion, and bosses at all
the intersections of the timbers carved with mainly conventional
religious symbols and motifs. The stained glass (except the modem
clerestory windows in the chancel) was by Hardman of Birmingham for the
St Nicolas Stained Glass Society, 1867-1935: south aisle: Parables;
north aisle: Miracles; north clerestory: Prophets; south clerestory:
Apostles and Evangelists
DEDICATION
St
Nicholas was Bishop of Myra in Lydia, Asia Minor (present day East
Turkey) in the 4th century during the reign of Constantine the Great.
Scarcely anything else is known about him, though legends abound. He
was a saint particularly revered by the Normans which reinforces the
suggestion that the church on this site was dedicated, or at least
refounded, after the Norman Conquest. His picture appears in the first
light on the left of the windows over the north entrance, and in the
east window, where he is shown with three bags or balls of gold from
one of the legends associated with him. Photos by Pete Hanson and David
Stone |
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