Church of St Nicholas

Details

MOWSLEY SP 68 NW MAIN STREET (East Side)

4/73 Church of St. Nicholas 7.12.66 GV II*

Parish Church. Late C13, restored by J.L. Pearson in 1882. Coursed cobble stone with limestone dressing and Swithland slate roofs. Western bell cote, aisleless nave with transepts and chancel. West bellcote above buttressed west end has paired openings with quatrefoil above. Restored by Pearson, but the gable apex is filled with coursed and squared limestone which is dated 1716. West window of 3 lancets pierced in ashlar surround, is by Pearson. Sill course below continues throughout the building. South porch largely medieval, although the coped gable was re-built and the outer arch restored in 1882, but the responds of the arch appear to be original. Inner door has double hollow chamfered archway: the hood mould is in Pearson's style. Square porch windows with mutilated corbel heads to hood mould. Coped transept gable also restored and given a triple lancet window. Similar window in chancel, but the priests door and south east window are medieval, the latter is a C15 insertion, a square headed window with 3 ogivally arched lights. East window is also of 3 lancet lights, set in ashlar surround, and pierced by trefoils in the spandrels. North elevation blank but for 3-light transept window and north doorway, a Victorian addition. Inside, wide and spacious nave, bare cobble stone walls with moulded ashlar cornice. Evidence for former piscina alongside tall south doorway, which has corbel heads to hood mould. Double chamfered, transept arches rise from cylindrical shafts, the outer chamfer continues to floor level where there is an elaborate chamfer stop. In the south transept, is a 2-centred arched piscina beneath the window, richly moulded, and on the west wall a length of C17 oak panelling said to have come from the Manor House at Knaptoft. Piscina in west wall of north transept has trefoiled arch and hood mould with corbel heads. There is no chancel arch, just a small change in level and a wood screen made by J.L. Pearson from old oak, simply worked in a medieval craft tradition with 6 narrow trefoiled arches and a wider central arch above which is a simple cross. 2 wall memorials in the chancel: on the north wall to the Reverend James Tindall, d1852, a Gothick tablet with inscription in ogee arch flanked and capped by pinnacles with fleurons. On the south wall there is a painted wood tablet in a late medieval style to the memory of Henry Green, the Rector responsible for Pearson's restoration work. Unusual late C19 painted wood reredos with 4 panels, in reds and blues with floral and heart-like emblems and birds among branches. Font is late C13: octagonal with trefoiled panels, mounted on a Victorian base. Stained glass in chancel east and south east windows is from the same studio, but only the south east window is dated, 1891. It depicts scenes from the life of Mary while in the east window are scenes from the life of Christ: blues and yellows predominate. Fine roof construction throughout by J.L. Pearson. 4 principal trusses of crown post construction are braced laterally and longitudinally with boarding between the many secondary rafters. A dormer effect is produced where the transept roofs join: they have secondary rafters with struts and ties. Over the altar, the 2 eastern most bays are coved, with ribs, forming a type of wagon roof, with herringbone short planking.

Listing NGR: SP6470689072

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

191293

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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