Summary
Parish church, redundant since 1971. Early C12; largely rebuilt in C13; with C14 and early to mid-C15 alterations; extended and altered in C16 and C17. It was restored in 1865, with further repairs in C20.
Reasons for Designation
The Church of St Nicholas, Gloucester is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for the quality of its architectural detailing, materials and craftsmanship, particularly the medieval interior;
* for the phasing and the development which remain legible, while the periods of restoration that occurred between the late C18 and late C20 have been carefully considered;
* the church retains notable funerary monuments from the C17 and C18, along with a variety of mid- to late-C19 fittings, including decorative tiles to the chancel, linenfold pews, pulpit and stained glass.
Historic interest:
* as one of Gloucester’s oldest and most prosperous churches that was located within the city’s wealthiest parish during the medieval period;
* its truncated spire, which sustained damage during the Siege of Gloucester in 1643 and was reduced in height in the late C18, is a prominent landmark in the city.
History
By 1066 Gloucester was a royal borough and a commercial centre of some importance, strengthened by its strategic position at a crossing point of the River Severn. During the medieval period much of the wealth of the town; it was made a city by charter in 1541, was derived largely from cloth manufacturing and ironworking and from trading, principally in corn and wine.
The Church of St Nicholas, dedicated to the patron saint of sailors and fishermen, is located towards the western end of Westgate Street, one of the principal routes through Gloucester. It is orientated west-east, on a slight skew to the road, and was built close to Gloucester’s west gate (not extant). It was first documented in 1180, though it appears to have been built earlier in the C12, possibly as a royal foundation. Two bays of the north arcade and the tympanum in the nave’s south wall are evidence of the original building. By 1203 it was known as St Nicholas of the Bridge of Gloucester (A History of the County of Gloucester, see Sources) and was said to have custody of the medieval Westgate Bridge which crossed the river nearby. It was substantially rebuilt in the C13 and enlarged with the addition of the south aisle which may have originally been a chantry chapel (Churches Conservation Trust, see Sources). In around 1229, the church was given to St Bartholomew’s Hospital to support the hospice’s poor, and the church and hospital maintained a close relationship throughout the medieval period. Several chantries were endowed within the church, and for some 50 years, the hospital appointed one of its own chaplains to serve one. Under a royal grant of 1564, the governorship of St Bartholomew’s passed to the City Corporation, though the church remained closely associated with the hospital (Gloucester 500, see Sources).
The south porch, originally with a room above, was added in the C14 and in the early to mid-C15 the west tower was built, replacing the previous tower, the north aisle was rebuilt with a slightly longer footprint, and the windows were remodelled. In the C16 an entrance to the south aisle from Westgate Street was added and the north chapel was rebuilt as a vestry probably in the early C17. A gallery was also added across the west end but was removed in the mid-C19. Although one of Gloucester’s more prosperous churches, its fortunes declined in the C17 and C18, to such an extent that services were temporarily suspended around 1786. It was repaired and restored in the late C18 when the spire, which had been damaged by Royalist artillery during the Siege of Gloucester in 1643, was reduced in height. The church was restored by Gloucester practice John Jacques & Son in 1865. It passed from the city corporation to the Diocese of Gloucester in 1871. Repairs were carried out after a fire in 1901, in the 1920s and in the 1930s, including re-roofing. The church united with the nearby Church of St Mary de Lode in 1951 but due to a dwindling congregation, it closed in 1967. The Church of St Nicholas was declared redundant in 1971 and was placed in the care of the Redundant Churches Fund (now the Churches Conservation Trust) in 1975. Further repairs have taken place since then. The churchyard, which closed in 1854, has been redeveloped.
Details
Parish church, redundant since 1971. Early C12; largely rebuilt in C13; with C14 and early to mid-C15 alterations; extended and altered in C16 and C17. It was restored in 1865, with further repairs in C20.
MATERIALS: it is constructed from Cotswold oolitic limestone ashlar and rubble, with some red brick to the rear, under gabled roofs of Welsh slate and plain tile with stone coping.
PLAN: it comprises a west tower with a spire, a nave of six bays, a two-bay chancel that is continuous with the nave, north and south aisles, the main south porch, a further porch towards the east end of the south aisle, a small north-west addition against the tower and a vestry at the north-east corner.
EXTERIOR: the church is in the Early Norman and Early English styles, with Perpendicular additions. The mid-C15 tower has three stages, a chamfered plinth, moulded stringcourses, diagonal corner buttresses with offsets rising to the top of the second stage and small panelled buttresses to the third stage. It has an embattled parapet with traceried panels and corner pinnacles; restored in 1993-1994. The first stage has a large four-light window in the west elevation, a south window of three lights and an infilled north window which rises above the stringcourse and is partly obscured by an extension to the north. Each face of the second stage has a window of mostly blank panelling with an upper transom and elaborately-moulded, ogee-arched head with flanking crocketed pinnacles, and the third stage has a triple ogee-headed bell openings with crockets and pinnacles. All the windows have Perpendicular tracery. The tall octagonal, stone spire has attached pinnacles and on each cardinal face is an ornate crocketed lucarne. Its upper part was removed in the C18 and replaced by a coronet with pinnacles and a lead ogee cap with gilded ball finial. The south side of the tower has a large bracket clock first recorded in 1715.
The western bay of the south side of the nave has an offset buttress and a two-light pointed-arched window with C14/C15 tracery and hoodmould with labels. The gabled south porch, which originally had an upper room, was added in 1347 and rebuilt in the mid-C19. The entrance doorway has a moulded pointed-arched surround and a pair of low timber gates with decorative ironwork, and a small lancet above. To the right (east) the five bays of the south elevation of the south aisle are defined by buttresses with two offsets rising to the underside of a moulded corbel table, and in each bay is a large C13 semi-circular arched window of three lights in an Early English surround with jamb shafts and moulded capitals and bases, under a continuous hoodmould. The windows were remodelled in the C15 when Perpendicular tracery was inserted. In the C19 the windows in the west bay and the west gable wall were restored to a C13 design with plate tracery. Between bays four and five is a stone porch with a timber door with moulded fillets set in an ashlar surround with chamfered stepped jambs and segmental arched head. The window in the south aisle’s east gable wall has an Early English surround with inserted C14 Decorated tracery and a hoodmould over. The east wall of the chancel has a C15 five-light window with Perpendicular tracery. The vestry at the north-east corner has a single, broad lancet in its east wall; its north wall is blind. The east bay of the C15 north aisle is built of brick and breaks forwards and contains a Decorated window. The adjacent two bays each have a Perpendicular window beneath a gable, and the remaining windows to the west are C16/C17. Attached to the western end of the aisle is an addition with an offset buttress and a wide doorway with moulded surround and semi-circular head. The nave roof has two Decorated gabled dormer windows added in the mid-C19.
INTERIOR: the entrance to the nave, within the main south porch, is C12 and has a shouldered doorcase with a pair of C19 timber plank doors set within a semi-circular surround with renewed nook shafts, foliage capitals and a tympanum with a carving of Agnus Dei flanked by foliage. The door has a replica (the original is at the Museum of Gloucester) sanctuary knocker in the form of a demon-like figure. Above the door, within the nave, is the Royal Coat of Arms of Charles II, its date altered to 1689. The tower has tall double-chamfered arches, a staircase in the south-west angle and lierne (short, linking ribs between the main ribs) vaulting. The belfry stage above has a C17 timber bell frame; there are six bells. The walls in the body of the church are generally plastered, as are the ceilings, and the floors are tiled. The six-bay north arcade has a double-chamfered pointed arch to the western bay, probably C15, then two early-C12 round arches carried on short circular piers, and the three eastern bays have early-C13 pointed arches on more slender circular piers; one with a moulded capital and two with stiff-leaf decoration. The south arcade of four bays is early C13. It has double-chamfered pointed arches and more slender cylindrical piers; the two easternmost piers have stiff-leaf capitals. The nave has a C19 open timber roof with four king-post trusses with decorative upper struts supported on carved stone corbels. Between the nave and chancel is an arch-braced truss springing from corbels carved with angels. The chancel has encaustic tiles from Maw & Co (The Buildings of England, see Sources), including a decorative dado, a simple communion rail and quadruple squints in the north and south walls which were inserted in the early C16 to provide a view of the sanctuary from the aisles. In the north wall is a door to the vestry, and the south wall has a large piscina with credence. The narrow north aisle has a timber panelled screen at its east end and strainer quadrant arches added in 1934-1935 by N H Waller. The south aisle is broader and at its east end is a plain octagonal stone font, possibly C16; the bowl possibly renewed, and an alabaster chest tomb with painted reclining figures of alderman John Walton, died 1626 and his wife, Alice, died 1620. The front of the tomb has a carving of two arched panels flanked by pairs of fluted Ionic columns and each contain a kneeling figure. It was restored in 1980. Fixed to the west wall of the south aisle is a reset section of Jacobean oak panelling from the former west gallery (removed around 1865). Most of the fittings are C19 and include linenfold pews and a timber Perpendicular pulpit. The stained glass in the east chancel window and the east window in the south aisle are by Moons & Son of Bristol and date to 1882; the south aisle west window is probably by Joseph Bell. The many wall tablets and monuments are C17, C18 and C19.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: on the south side of the church, between the south-west corner of the tower and the corner of the south aisle, are cast-iron square railings of probable early-C19 date, topped with spiked heads, except for the two simple urn heads. There are double gates opposite the entrance to the main south porch.
