Church of St Nicholas

Details

TACKLEY CHURCH HILL SP4720 (South side) 5/60 Church of St. Nicholas 27/08/57 GV II* Church. C11 origins. C13 tower, south aisle and alterations. C15 transepts, clerestory and alterations. North transept largely rebuilt 1616. Restored and porch added by G. E. Street 1864. Limestone rubble; chancel of coursed rubble; nave and aisle west wall and porch of regular coursed stone. Shallow-pitched lead roofs have ashlar parapets and gable parapets with moulded cornices and copings; porch has stone-slate roof. Cruciform plan with central tower, south aisle and porch. 2-bay chancel, 3-bay nave. Chancel appears exceptionally tall due to the sloping site. Large clasping buttresses and wide shallow south buttress have irregular quoins. 3 stepped east lancets with moulded sill course are C13. Immediately above central lancet is a stone panel with shield above enclosed in a stepped moulded stone frame. Inscription above in Latin has the name John Standard and is dated 1625. South windows are C15 Perpendicular with deep hollow-chamfered jambs, moulded tracery and hood moulds. 2-light eastern window has cusped Y-tracery; large 3-light western window has panel tracery. North transept has splay plinth and diagonal buttresses of 2 offsets. Blocked doorway in north-east angle. 3-light Perpendicular north window. Small chamfered Tudor-arched west doorway has C19 plank door. South transept has hollow-chamfered plinth, and south-east diagonal and south-west buttresses of 2 offsets. 4-light Perpendicular south window. Nave has 2 blocked simple C11 round arches of irregular voussoirs. Eastern arch has short, wide 2-light window of 1864 with heavy bar tracery. Western arch has C11/C12 small, simple, chamfered Romanesque doorway with imposts and C19 plank door with decorative ironwork. Clerestory of 2 widely-spaced restored straight-headed windows of 2 trefoiled lights with hood mould. C19 decorated rainwater head and downpipe. Nave and aisle west wall are of one build. Nave has tall C14 three-light window with cusped intersecting tracery and hood mould with head stops. Porch has Early English style doorway of 2 chamfered orders and nook-shafts. C15 Perpendicular moulded doorway inside has wide hollow-chamfered segmental arch, spandrels with blind tracery, hood mould and C19 double-leaf doors. Low lean-to against east wall of porch. Aisle has small octagonal chimney above. C19 straight-headed 2-light windows to east and west of porch have bar tracery. Clerestory of 4 two-light windows. Tower of 2 stages has north and south buttresses of 2 offsets, largely embedded in the transept walls. Moulded string courses. Bell chamber has 2 openings to each side of a trefoiled round arch with louvres in chamfered straight-headed surrounds. Moulded cornice and embattled parapet with a gargoyle at each corner. Interior is plastered. Chancel east windows have triple arches of two chamfered arches and clustered shafts. C15 piscina on octagonal shaft at foot of east jamb of south-east window. South window mouldings are continued down to form sedile. North wall has 3 chamfered Tudor arches of varying widths. 2 of them are separated by a round shaft and have hood moulds; easternmost arch forms a tomb recess. C19 three-bay roof has chamfered segmental-arched braces, wall posts and pierced plate tracery. Crossing has arches of 3 chamfered orders, broad splayed jambs and simple imposts. Transepts have C19 roofs. Nave has blocked round arches in north wall, and a similar but much smaller blocked arch below the clerestory to north and south. 3-bay C13 south arcade of 2 chamfered orders has round piers with moulded bases on large octagonal pedestals, and stiff-leaf capitals; west respond is a much more slender attached shaft. C19 roof has chamfered tie beams and braces, and wall posts on painted shield corbels. Fittings: small reredos, probably designed by Street, of inlaid coloured stones. Stalls, altar rails and pews of c.1864. C13 font has compound shaft with nailhead ornament, and bowl with simple trefoiled blind arcading. Brass eagle lectern dated 1905. Late C19/early C20 octagonal wood pulpit and rood screen. C19 stained glass. Monuments: tomb recess in chancel has C15 tomb chest with miniature buttresses and 4 arched panels, and incised cross on top. Wall monument above has shield of arms above a stone panel within a stepped moulded stone frame. Inscription to Peter Aileworth (1595) and his wife Anne (1611). Small wall monument near north-east corner: William Harborne 1658. Small panel in moulded surround with scrolled pediment and cartouche of arms. North transept east wall: John Harborne 1651 and his wife. They kneel facing each other, with coffered round arches above, architrave of pilasters and obelisks and entablature with putti, and predella showing their children. South transept east wall: John Morton 1780, signed John Bacon and dated 1794. Fine large Neo-Classical figure of Justice in high relief, in low relief shaped panel with volutes and drops and draped urn above. Pedestal with inscription. West wall has a black marble panel to members of the Whicker Morton family 1682 to 1746 listed 1-10 in a table. South aisle: Sir John Whalley Smythe Gardiner, 1797; signed J. Bacon London 1799. Neo-Classical relief of a mourner weeping over a draped sarcophagus. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: p803)

Listing NGR: SP4758720170

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

253046

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 803

End of official list entry

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