Church of St Nicholas (Church of England)

Details

TL 3929 & TL 4029 HORMEAD HORSESHOE LANE (West side)

12/121 & 13/121 Church of St. Nicholas 22.2.67 (C of E)

GV II*

Parish church. Nave C13 or earlier, late C13 3-bay N aisle and arcade, early C14 4-bay S aisle and nave and N aisle lengthened by a W bay, later C14 W tower built over W bay of nave and aisles shortened, C15 top to tower and nave clerestory. Restored 1872-4 by A.W. Blomfield with chancel, chancel arch, S organ chamber and south porch rebuilt. Flint rubble with stone dressings. Roofs part metal, part old red tile. A village church with square ended chancel, clerestoryed nave of 3 bays and aisles all with parapets, south porch and organ chamber and an embattled W tower with pyramidial tile roof and diagonal buttresses. Chancel has encaustic and glazed tile pavement at alter and fleur-de-lis tiled E rear wall with carved reredos recessed below E window. 3-bay open timber roof, arched braced principals and wind braces. Aumbry in S wall next alter. Small cartouche painted with 3 hop plants set over door to organ chamber. Wall monument in white and grey marble c.1815 by Kendrick of a Grecian sarcophagus with word Waterloo in an oval wreath to Lt-Col Stables. Tall nave has late C13 N arcade with 2-centred arches of 2 chamfered orders on octagonal columns with moulded caps and bases. Respond replaced by a C19 column and short length of wall at E pierced by a narrow C19 arch. At W end of arcade are 2 responds back-to-back, the W one to an arch added when S arcade and aisle was built and lost when tower was built. S arcade early C14 with 2-centred arches, octagonal columns with moulded caps and bases, also with C19 narrow arch at E end but springing of original 4th bay at W end. 3 clerestory openings each side with 2-light trefoil headed windows. Six carved head corbels support wall posts of former open timber roof now sealed between tie-beams. N aisle has N door, 4 windows on N, a 3-light E window, screened off vestry at W (1974) and a recessed brass wall plate 1696 to William Delawood of London recording a bequest. S aisle has C15 S door, 3 S windows and C19 arch into organ chamber at E. Grotesque head corbels support the aisle roofs, low pitched with moulded principals, purlins, cornices and traceried brackets off wallposts. 3-stage W tower with wide late C14 tower arch of 3 chamfered orders with 3 engaged jamb shafts separated by hollows, W window, heavy moulded beams, embattled wallplates, and circular bell opening over lower stage. Louvred 2-light openings on each face of top stage. Font late C12 a plain octagonal basin chamfered top and bottom set on a thick circular stem encircled by 8 plain circular shafts. Wall monument at W end of S aisle to William Brand 1746/7 in white and black marble, a swagged tablet with Ionic 3/4 columns supporting an entablature with wreathed achievement over. (RCHM (1911)102: VCH (1914)72-3: Kelly (1914)165: Pevsner (1977)152).

Listing NGR: TL3999229566

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

160342

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1914), 72-3
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 152
Kellys Directory in Hertfordshire, (1914), 165

Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)

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