Church of St Nicholas

Details

SK 9450-9550
7/74
20-9-66

FULBECK
THE GREEN(west)Church of St Nicholas


GI
Parish Church.C10,C11,C12,C13,C14,C15,C16,C17,C18.Restored 1888.Coursed limestone rubble and ashlar,slate and lead roofs.West tower,nave,north and south aisles,chancel.West tower of three stages,lowest is basically C13 of coursed rubble with ashlar clasping and midwall buttresses,roll moulded plinth,C15 stair up west side,C15 3 light perpendicular window in west wall with four-centred arched door to stairs.C18 door with timber lintel in south side.Two C19 pointed headed lights in south wall of middle stage.A fragment of ex situ Anglo-Saxon sculpture is preserved in the middle stage of the north wall of the tower,immediately above and slightly to the left of the central C15 buttress.The fragement bears interlace ornament on the rightand a panel with a cable moulded border to the left.It is panel rather than from a cross shaft.In the top stage are large C15 two light louvered belfry openings with two tiers of paired lights in each side,the lower lights have four centred heads whilst the upper have cusped trefoils with moulded hood moulds over with beast headed label stops.Elaborately embattled and pinnacled roof with projecting gargoyles,the middle pinnacles on each side are on diagonal projections supported on grotesque corbels.The west wall of the north aisle is of ashlar with a three light flowing traceried window with cinquefoil motif recut in C19.North wall of aisle has a C14 three light trefoil headed window with reticulated tracery and a heavy hood mould with human mask label stops.North door is C14 with heavily moulded pointed head.North nave wall has four three light C15 clerestory windows with cinquefoil cusped heads beneath moulded four centred arches and a continuous hood mould.Above is a parapet with shield and lattice decoration and pinnacles.East wall of aisle has a three light reticulated window with a pointed head.Adjacent is a small monolithic C14 window set in the north wall of the nave with two round-headed lights and mandorla over.North wall of chancel is partly of coursed rubble,partly ashlar,refaced in C19.Windows are C19 copies of two light C14 ones, parapet also C19,dated 1892 on the south side.East wall of the church is of C19 ashlar with contemporary five light window.South chancel wall as the north,but has a C14 trefoil headed door.South east pinnacle of the nave roof has a grotesque form,apparently representing the arms of the Myddletons,who held the manor of Fulbeck during the C15;it includes a shield supported by a Harpy and a Wyvern.The south aisle is of ashlar with late C14 four light east window with ogee heads, panel
tracery above and pointed arch with human head label stops.Two fine C14 curvilinear three light windows in the south wall of the aisle with ogee trefoil heads,roundels with mouchettes and quatrefoils above beneath simply chamfered hood moulds and human head label stops.South porch is C14,simple arched opening with label stops and chamfered hood mould,side benches,cross at gable,trefoil headed side lights.West wall of south aisle has curvilinear three light window with chamfered hood mould and mouchettes.South door is a C13 pointed arch with hood mould,label stops removed. Door is C14 oack ogee headed judas,with blank reticulated panels above with trefoil heads and elongated quatrefoils.Inside are north and south nave arcades of three bays,c1300, with double chamfered arches,standing on heavily recut round pillars with
annular capitals.Above the easternmost bay of the south arcade is a fragmentary probably C10 circular window,now blocked.Nave roof is C19,but rests on C15 grotesque corbels and reused in the roof are foliate and heraldic bosses and standing half figures from the C15 roof.C15 tower arch is tall with heavily moulded head and hood mould with foliate label stops.Above the arch the coping stones of an earlier roof can be seen.A plain square section string course is visible in the exteriors of the nave
walls from the side aisles.These are probably C10,since above the string course in the north aisle, long-and-short quoins,which appear to be in build with it,can be seen.These quoins mark the westward extent of the Saxon nave and,together with the evidence of the string courses and splayed circular window in the south wall,indicate that the nave walls above the later arcades are all Saxon.North and south aisle roofs are both C19.South aisle has two statue brackets and a C14 piscina beneath a flat lintel and a four-lobed basin.In the north wall of the nave behind the pulpit is a fragment of early C12 blank arcading,of which the roll moulded heads only survive with a zone of saltire crosses over.Above is a C15 four centred arched opening to a now-vanished roof loft.Fragments of the fine ogee headed screen are however incorported into the C19 tower screen.Chancel arch was enlarged in 1888 to its present imposing C14 form and proportions.In the chancel a restored C13 sedilia on the south side and a contemporary arched tomb recess in the north wall,now containing a C16 iron bound chest.Two seats are made from cut down C15 choir seating and retain their misericordes.Credence table on the north side is made from a reused C12 cushion capital.Otherwise fittings are C19 and C20.Only the font is earlier; apparently a late C12 piece with four sections of blank arcading beneath cable and laurel wreath mouldings,and supported at the angles by free standing octagonal piers;all heavily recut in the C19.Monuments.In the south aisle are monuments to Elizabeth Shaw d.1736 with scrolly cartouche,urn and cherubs,and to Elizabeth Brown d.1683 which has a broken scrolled perdiment and a cartouche bearing an incised coat of arms.In the base of the wast window reveal is a fine elongated slab with a curved top to Timothy Thorold,Dr.of Physick,d.1641,date of monument is 1680.In the north aisle are wall plaques to the Fanes of Fulbeck Hall,beginning with Neville Fane,d.1680,commemorated by an oblong slab with curved top and painted coat of arms,and continuing through the succeeding centuries with further oblong C17 stones as well as later wall plaques.C17 alms box to west of the south door with floral decoration.All rear arches of the C14 windows in the nave and aisles have human headed label stops.


Listing NGR: SK9475450439

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