Church of St Nicholas
Church of St Nicholas, Church Plain, Great Yarmouth, NR30 1NE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1096813
- Date first listed:
- 27-Jun-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Nicholas
- Statutory Address:
- Church of St Nicholas, Church Plain, Great Yarmouth, NR30 1NE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2004-08-07
- Reference:
- IOE01/13055/14
- Rights:
- © Mr Michael Parker. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1096813
- Date first listed:
- 27-Jun-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Nicholas
- Statutory Address 1:
- Church of St Nicholas, Church Plain, Great Yarmouth, NR30 1NE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Church of St Nicholas, Church Plain, Great Yarmouth, NR30 1NE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Norfolk
- District:
- Great Yarmouth (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TG 52435 08036
Details
TG5208SW
839-1/11/22
GREAT YARMOUTH
CHURCH PLAIN (North side)
Church of St Nicholas
27/06/53
GV
II*
Parish church. Founded in association with a Benedictine Priory 1101 by Bishop Herbert de Losinga and completed in 1119. The base of the tower is early C12, the remainder rebuilt in stages throughout C13. Derelict state in C17 and C18: north nave aisle removed 1705, replaced 1847 by JH Hakewill. East end rebuilt 1813 by PH Wyatt, again rebuilt and lengthened 1862 by JP Seddon. Further restorations in 1847, 1862 and 1889 (the last by JL Pearson). Fire-bombed in 1942 and gutted completely leaving only the external walls, most of which were by then C19, rebuilt 1957-60 by Stephen Dykes Bower. Quaternary and Quarry flint, mostly knapped, chert and Lincolnshire Limestone ashlar dressings. Copper roof cladding.
PLAN: cruciform plan of nave, nave aisles, transepts with central tower, chancel and chancel aisles.
EXTERIOR: the west front presents three gables, the central one lit through three early C13 lancets over an arched and moulded doorway. Wide south aisle added c1250 showing three stepped lancets each with two Y-tracery lights and cusping of C19 design. Punched trefoils in the spandrels. Equally wide north aisle of 1847 lit through stepped lancets with Y-tracery. Four polygonal turrets with C19 pinnacles. Eight nave aisle bays, the windows to the south side of three lights each of Geometric Decorated design. Gabled south porch with an arched and moulded doorway, corner pinnacles and flushwork panelling. Inside a two-bay quadripartite rib-vault and an inner doorway with three orders of shafts carrying stiff-leaf capitals. Two three-light flowing side windows. The porch restored in 1991. The north nave aisle has seven three-light Perpendicular windows of C20 origin and a re-used C13 doorway with multiple roll mouldings and a string course carried over it. In the angle with the north transept is an altar tomb of 1851 protected by iron railings. Seven-light transept windows with Decorated tracery; angle pinnacles again. The chancel has three-light cusped north and south windows and a five-light east window by JP Seddon. In the angles between the chancel and the transepts are various low C19 and C20 vestries. The tower has an arcade of C12 arches, then a string course below round-arched windows lighting the ringing chamber. The belfry is almost all 1862, by Seddon: three tall lancets to each face, a punched parapet and corner pinnacles.
INTERIOR: four-bay nave arcade entirely of 1957, in design and execution: rectangular piers with engaged shafts and fan capitals. Boarded nave and aisle roofs. The west end has an internal wall passage. Wide arches from the aisles into the transepts and four transept arches re-cased in C19. The chancel has five aisles (since 1960), the outer two aisles separated by a four-bay octagonal arcade of 1960. Pitched boarded central roof, flat boarded aisle roofs. Chancel pulpitum with two arched C13 doors decorated with quatrefoils in the jambs and in the arch and with encircled quatrefoils in the spandrels. Norman octagonal font with a 12-sided bowl with waterleaf decoration from Highway, Wiltshire. Simple nave pews from St George's, Yarmouth, 1714. Panelled pulpit also from St George's.
Listing NGR: TG5243508036
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 468451
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North East Norfolk and Norwich, (1962), 143-146
Websites
British Geological Survey, Strategic Stone Study, accessed 11 March 2020 from https://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/buildingStones/StrategicStoneStudy/EH_atlases.html
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 08-Jun-2026 at 11:15:27.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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