CITY MUSEUM, FORMER CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS

List Entry Summary

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Location

CITY MUSEUM, FORMER CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, ST NICHOLAS STREET

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List entry Description

Summary of Building

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Reasons for Designation

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History

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Details

BRISTOL

ST5872NE ST NICHOLAS STREET, Centre 901-1/16/662 (South side) 08/01/59 City Museum, former Church of St Nicholas

GV II*

Church, now a museum. Mid C14, completely rebuilt above the crypt 1769, by James Bridges, steeple and interior by Thomas Paty. Bath stone ashlar and Pennant rubble. PLAN: nave and W tower. Georgian Gothic Revival style. EXTERIOR: windowless E end projecting to the centre, articulated by slight diagonally-set buttresses; below a moulded string are C14 rubble crypt walls with quatrefoil openings. 7-bay N elevation, a re-set C15 three-light mullion window in the E bay and an inserted C20 door to the W of that; tall 5-light Perpendicular windows separated by buttresses up to a blind arcaded parapet. The crypt wall is exposed on the S side through the falling ground, and has a gabled porch in the second bay from the W; parapeted vestry in the SW corner has a 4-light S window. 2-stage tower: the N door has an ogee hood, with C20 glazing and small entrance lobby; above is an 8-foil oculus; the belfry has paired windows with ogee hoods, the bottom half blind, the top louvred, and clasping pilaster buttresses, panelled in 2 halves with trefoil heads to the belfry, a coved cornice and open arcaded parapet, with pinnacles with ogee gablets; on the S face is a clock. Octagonal 3-stage spire with oculi around the middle stage. INTERIOR: largely rebuilt after Second World War bombing. The fine mid C14 crypt is 4 bays with tierceron vaulting and good animate and foliate bosses, on triple attached shafts to the aisles with foliate capitals, and continuous moulding to the arcade; at the E end is an arched panel with good figure stops and a hexafoil panel. FITTINGS: C18 baluster-shaped font; brass eagle lectern c1480. Memorials: C16 wall memorial with a panelled base, flanking buttresses with pinnacles, an arch over with panelled soffit and an effigy on one elbow. HISTORICAL NOTE: The mid C14 church was demolished in 1762; Bridges' design, building off the old crypt, was an early and remarkably well-studied attempt at Gothic revival, and the windows have similarities with those of St Peter's, Peter Street (qv). The interior had a very fine Rococo plaster ceiling by Thomas Stocking (Ison). (Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural History: Bristol: 1979-: 171; Ison W: The Georgian Buildings of Bristol: Bath: 1952-: 65; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 404).

Listing NGR: ST5894572940

Selected Sources

Books and journals
Gomme, A H, Jenner, M, Little, B D G, Bristol, An Architectural History, (1979), 171
Ison, W, The Georgian Buildings of Bristol, (1952), 65
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958), 404

National Grid Reference: ST 58945 72940

Map

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