Church of St Nicholas

Details

SU 94 NE COMPTON C.P. THE STREET (West Side)

3/84 Church of St Nicholas

14.6.67 I

Church. C11 tower with .C12, Romanesque alterations to chancel, enlargement of nave circa 1180 and further small alterations in C14, C15 and C19. Restored by Henry Woodyer. Mortar rendered Bargate rubblestone with ashlar dressings. Plain tiled roof with wood shingled broach spire. Nave with pentice roof aisles, double chancel to east and square tower to west, with porch to south. Unbuttressed tower with lancet openings in each face of bellchamber. Of blocked windows in chancel walls with simple hollow mouldings, one to north and one to south. C13 lancet windows in aisles alternating with foiled head, two-light aisle windows. Decorated window to east end of south aisle, C19 triangular, tile hung, hipped roof, dormers on south side of nave roof with one dormer in chancel to north and penticed roof addition to north side. C12 south door in gabled porch with round order and one order of chevron zig-zag moulding to surround. North door - blocked and round headed.

Interior: Three bay round pier arcades to nave under scalloped and stylised foliage capitals, curious clover leaf type capital to south pier, unchamfered arches. Crown post roof. Soffits of nave arcade crimped as is chancel arch. Nook shafts to chancel arch with an order of zig-zag above. Braced crown post roof. Tower arch with abaci imposts, zig-zag and patterned mouldings to chancel windows. Sanctuary: two storeys, vaulted below. Separate chapel above open to chancel and separated from it by Romanesque guard rail - one of the earliest pieces of church woodwork in the country. Restoration indicates that the chambers were built inside the existing chancel walls. Lower chamber: Quadripartite ribbed vault with thick ribs and single chamfer, Keystone. Arch leading to lower chapel from the chancel has two orders, a deeply cut inner roll moulding and an outer moulding of saw-tooth ornament, similar to formalized beak-heads, supported on small nook shafts. Outside is a label moulding composed of dog-tooth ornament, an early example. The small room to the south of the upper chamber contains a wooden staircase and a Norman window on the south wall and is thought to have been originally a cell or oratory.

Fittings: Upper chancel chamber: altered and re-set piscina, moved in C12 alterations. Guard rail - late C12 with simple round arched arcade on elegant thin stems with crocketed capitals, badly worn. Altar rails, tower screen (formerly across the chancel) and pulpit are all Jacobean, circa 1620. Pulpit panelled with strapwork decoration and sounding board above, all very ornate. Early Norman font: square bowl above a big circular stem and ring. Chequerboard painting to chancel arch wall.

Stained glass: small trefoil roundel in east wall of lower chapel showing Virgin and child, possibly C13. Also some fragments of C17 glass remaining.

Monuments: north aisle wall - C14 arched, cusped wall recesses, one depressed. South porch, west wall: monument to Edward Fulham, Canon of Windsor. Died 1694, monument erected 1778. Grey stone ground with white stone apron and Coat of Arms and floral decoration. Garlanded white stone urn above in Late Palladian style, by Van Gelder.

The church is unique in the South of England and the two storey arrangement of the chancel is extremely rare.

PEVSNER: BUILDINGS OF ENGLAND, SURREY (1971) pp 166-168 VCH SURREY VOLUME 3 SCHEDULE OF SURREY ANTIQUITIES 1913 pp 19-21

Listing NGR: SU9544647022

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

288341

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Malden, H E, The Victoria History of the County of Surrey, (1902)
Pevsner, N, Nairn, I Rev. by Cherry, The Buildings of England: Surrey, (1971), 166-168

Other
PM Johnston, Schedule of Surrey Antiquities, (1913)

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