Church of St Nicholas

Details

WITHERNSEA PARK AVENUE TA 32 NW (north side, off) 4/95 Church of St Nicholas - II *

Parish church. Mid C15, completed 1488, with minor C16-C17 alterations; extensive restorations of 1858 included rebuilding north aisle and south porch, partial rebuilding of south aisle and nave, re-roofing, re-flooring, renewal of all window tracery, new tower parapet, new vestry. Nave, south aisle and lower section of tower in random and roughly-coursed cobbles; upper section of tower in coursed cobbles with ashlar bands, north aisle and porch in coursed split black cobbles with ashlar bands, chancel of limestone ashlar. Ashlar dressings throughout. Welsh slate roof. West tower, 4-bay aisled nave with south porch, 2-bay chancel with vestry adjoining north side. Moulded plinth. 2-stage tower has diagonal buttresses with offsets to tall first stage, clasping buttresses to top stage. First stage: pointed 3-light west window with Perpendicular tracery and original hoodmould. Small square-headed window above, moulded string course. Stepped-in second stage: pointed 2-light cinquefoiled Y-traceried belfry openings with C19 clock faces; moulded string course, coped embattled ashlar parapet with cobbled trefoiled panels. North aisle: angle and mid buttresses, restored pointed double hollow-chamfered door and square-headed 3-light cinquefoiled windows. South aisle: diagonal buttresses, similar square-headed 3-light windows. Nave: quoins, three 4-centred-arch 2-light trefoiled clerestory windows, corbel table of plain moulded corbels with spouts, shaped kneelers. Chancel: angle and mid buttresses, pointed 3-light windows with Perpendicular tracery, coped embattled parapet, crocketed pinnacles. Vestry: quoins, pointed 3-light east window with Perpendicular tracery. Porch: chamfered plinth, quoins, pointed moulded outer arch, triangular- headed side windows, restored pointed moulded inner arch with paterae. Interior. Pointed triple-chamfered tower arch with double-chamfered responds and plain moulded capitals and bases. Nave arcades of pointed double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers with plain moulded capitals and bases, octagonal west responds and corbelled east responds with carved lion's head to north, angel holding shield to south. Pointed double- chamfered chancel arch on similar corbelled responds with angels holding shields. Chancel has C19 pointed vestry door and arch to organ chamber. Many ashlar dressings bear signs of weathering; most were re-cut in C19. Painted 5-bay arch-braced chancel roof with carved bosses and angels holding shields; 3-bay queen-post nave roof with carved wooden head corbels. Grave slab to William Copland of 1491 with Gothic Latin border inscription, re-set in porch in 1858 from former position in central nave aisle. A church at Withernsea and one at nearby Owthorne (now lost to the sea), were said to have been built in the C13. The church lost its roof in 1609 and lay derelict until 1858. The arcades are similar to those at the contemporary Church of St Helen, Skeffling (qv). Photographs of church prior to restoration hanging in nave at time of resurvey. N Pevsner, the Buildings of England: Yorkshire, East Riding, 1972, p 372; Victoria County History: York, East Riding, vol 5, 1984, p 166.

Listing NGR: TA3424927666

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

166637

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Allison, K J, The Victoria History of the County of York: East Riding, (1984), 166
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - York and the East Riding, (1972), 372

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