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), 165Other Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
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