CITY MUSEUM, FORMER CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1202553
- Date first listed:
- 08-Jan-1959
- Statutory Address:
- CITY MUSEUM, FORMER CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, ST NICHOLAS STREET
Map
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Location
- Statutory Address:
- CITY MUSEUM, FORMER CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, ST NICHOLAS STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- City of Bristol (Unitary Authority)
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 58945 72940
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
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 380490
- Legacy System:
- LBS
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
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
End of official listing
Images of England
Images of England was a photographic record of every listed building in England, created as a snap shot of listed buildings at the turn of the millennium. These photographs of the exterior of listed buildings were taken by volunteers between 1999 and 2008. The project was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.