Parish Church of St Nicholas

PARISH CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, CHURCH STREET

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Explore this list entry

Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1305224
Date first listed:
26-Jan-1956
List Entry Name:
Parish Church of St Nicholas
Statutory Address:
PARISH CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, CHURCH STREET
User submitted image
Contributed by Anonymous This photo may not represent the current condition of the site. Over 400,000 images and stories have been added to the Missing Pieces Project so far. Share your story.
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places. 

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

Icon Buildings
Icon Scheduled monuments
Icon Parks and gardens
Icon Battlefields
Icon Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.
Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.
Date:
2003-03-21
Reference:
IOE01/10420/08
Rights:
© Mr Derek Beauchamp. Source: Historic England Archive

Local Heritage Hub

Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.

Discover more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1305224
Date first listed:
26-Jan-1956
List Entry Name:
Parish Church of St Nicholas
Statutory Address 1:
PARISH CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, CHURCH STREET

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
PARISH CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, CHURCH STREET

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Abbotsbury
National Grid Reference:
SY 57766 85209

Details

SY 5785 ABBOTSBURY CHURCH STREET, EAST SIDE

10/13 Parish Church of St Nicholas 26.1.56 GV I

Parish Church. C14 north aisle wall and north porch. C14 West Tower, north of central axis, perhaps implying earlier aisleless church. C15 rebuilding from the east end of the Chancel and addition of North Chapel. C16, nave remodelled with rebuilt arcades. Plaster ceiling of chancel inserted 1638. Reredos erected 1751, blocking the east window. Church restored in 1807-8, when gallery erected, and in 1885 and 1930. Rubble-stone and ashlar walls. Lead and slate roofs. Nave continuous into chancel. North hall, 4 windows, irregularly spaced, from the east: of 3 cinquefoiled ogee lights with vertical tracery in a 2-centred head, with moulded reveals, label and head-stop projecting stair-turret for roof stair; 2-light C14 window; 3-light window with cinquefoiled lights in a pointed-arch head, C15. 2-light C14 window west of north porch. The north porch, unbuttressed, has a C14 outer archway with chamfered jambs and segmental-pointed arch with pinnacles standing on corbels carved with grotesques. West Tower, C15, of 3 stages with an embattled parapet and carved bosses on the parapet string. Diagonal buttresses. West doorway has moulded jambs and 4-centred head. The west window is of 3 cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a 2-centred head. Niche above the window with carving of The Trinity, c.C15. Bell-chamber has windows of 2 trefoiled lights. South aisle, C16, with regular fenestration corresponding to bay divisions internally, windows with trefoiled ogee lights with vertical tracery in a 3-centred head, labels over. Blocked south doorway, C16. C17 doorway between the 2 eastern-most windows, with 3-centred head and label, dated 1636. Chancel,east window, blocked in C18, covering reredos. Interior: 6 bays, early C16 north and south arcades with 2-centred and moulded arches springing from hollow-chamfered piers. Carved foliage capitals. Early C16 clerestorey has 5 windows. Fittings: font, octagonal bowl, C15, base C20. Pulpit: oak, octagonal with 3 ranges of enriched arched panels, early C17. Reredos: of painted wood and plaster, with panelled centrepiece and Corinthian side-columns, entablature and pediment. Monuments: Porch: Purbeck marble slab carved with figure of abbot with chasuble and maniple , c.1200. Royal Arms: on front of west gallery, Hanoverian, carved in wood and coloured. (RCHM, Dorset I, p.l(l).)

Listing NGR: SY5776985210

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
105132
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Dorset, (1974), 1

Legal

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

Ordnance survey map of Parish Church of St Nicholas

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 06-Jun-2026 at 06:50:38.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Previous Overview
Next Comments and Photos