Church of St Nicholas
CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, UPPER STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1181243
- Date first listed:
- 15-Nov-1954
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Nicholas
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, UPPER STREET
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2004-05-26
- Reference:
- IOE01/11477/05
- Rights:
- © Miss Katie McAndrew. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1181243
- Date first listed:
- 15-Nov-1954
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Nicholas
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, UPPER STREET
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, UPPER STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Suffolk
- District:
- Mid Suffolk (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Rattlesden
- National Grid Reference:
- TL 97805 59049
Details
RATTLESDEN UPPER STREET
TL 95 NE
3/120 Church of St. Nicholas
-
15.11.54
GV I
Parish church, medieval. Nave, chancel, north and south aisles, south porch,
west tower and north vestry. Mainly flint rubble with freestone dressings.
Plaintiled roofs to nave and chancel, flat roofs to aisles. Parapets and
parapet gables throughout. C13 features: good south doorway with 3 orders of
roll moulding, keeled or filleted, twin attached shafts with bell capitals.
Above the doorway is a C13 circular window, and a weathering for an early
porch. Much early C14 rebuilding: tower with shallow clasping buttresses,
gabled at the head with grotesque corbels. 2-light belfry windows with
unusual tracery. Shingled spire. 5-bay nave arcade with heavy capitals and
fluted octagonal piers; at the head of each is a cinquefoil beneath the
capital. C14 north doorways in nave and chancel, and to vestry. An aumbry
with gabled head rising from grotesque corbels and with flanking shafts and
damaged pinnacles. Later C14 wide chancel arch: The aisles have large
traceried early C15 windows. In the east wall of both aisles are well carved
but mutilated image niches; the niche in the south aisle has areas of
colouring, and adjacent is a piscina. A rood loft stair is in the south wall,
indicating a former parclose screen linking with the main rood screen (both
existing screens and lofts were added in 1909/16). Later C15 tall windows in
chancel. Fine C15 clerestory: embattled parapets with extensive flushwork
incorporating a wide variety of emblems. Large 3-light windows. A double-
hammerbeam nave roof in 10 bays: 3 tiers of restored angels at each truss and
a frieze of angels and crowns above a moulded cornice. Chancel roof of C15,
boarded with trefoil coving, moulded ribs and cornice and foliate bosses.
Aisle roofs with arch-braced principals also C15. All roofs much restored.
South porch added c.1476: the south wall is entirely of freestone with
traceried panels and an image niche. The parapets are also of panelled
freestone, continuous with those of the aisle. The clasping buttresses at the
west corners match those in the tower, but the pinnacles were added in 1883.
The sacristy was added in C15 to north of chancel, and formerly had a chamber
above: the upper floor structure was removed in C19. Fine mid C14 octagonal
font: each face of the bowl has a cusped ogee-headed arch with buttresses
rising from grotesque corbels, and the stem is also traceried with slender
buttresses. A C15 slab in the nave floor with brass sinkings for three
figures, and another with single brass sinking. A further slab beneath the
altar in the chancel is to James (1587) and Dorothy (1617) Ryvett of Clopton
Hall. Ten C17/C18 marble slabs in chancel floor, some with achievements. C17
octagonal pulpit with arcaded panels. Turned altar rails of late C17. Some
restored C16 poppyhead benches in south aisle.
Listing NGR: TL9780559049
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 280873
- Legacy System:
- LBS
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 01-Jul-2026 at 20:20:03.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.