Church of St Nicholas

Details

FYFIELD AND TUBNEY FYFIELD SU4298 12/60 Church of St, Nicholas 09/02/66

GV II*

Church. c.1200: early C14 chancel, C15 north aisle, west tower rebuilt in 1809 and after fire of 1893, when church was restored: south porch by J.C. Buckler, 1867-8. Uncoursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; gabled C20 tile roof. Chancel and aisled nave with south transept and west tower. Decorated chancel has hood moulds with anthropomorphic stops over 4-light reticulated east window and 2-light windows in 2-bay side walls: pointed chamfered south doorway. North aisle: blocked round-headed doorway of c.1200 has keel-moulded arch and trumpet-scalloped capitals (shafts have gone); doorway flanked by much restored early C16 three-light window and a C15 two-light ogee-headed window: 3-light Perpendicular windows in end walls. South wall of nave rebuilt in mid C19, with 2-light window and 3-light south transept window. Steeply pitched gabled south porch by Buckler has painted moulded doorway flanked by tall pinnacles; similar doorway to south door within, and closely-set buttresses with gables to left side wall. West tower has original lower stage with C15 four-centred doorway to double-leaf plank doors: octagonal upper stages built in 1809 and then after 1893, with trefoil-headed lancets, reset C15 cinquefoil-headed light and pyramidal roof of 1893, Interior: late C19 benches, pulpit and lectern installed during restoration following fire of 1893. Much restored early C14 sedilia with late C19 shafts. Finely-carved piscina set in Decorated canopy: C15 credence table set on octagonal shaft with trefoiled blind panels. Reredos has restored vine-leaf cornice broken by octagonal C15 tabernacle. Monument in north wall of chancel to Lady Klatherine Gordon, the White Rose of Scotland and widow of Perkin Warbeck, d.1527: elaborately-carved tomb chest set within arched recess, all much restored after 1893. Late C19 chancel roof: early C14 cornice with ballflower ornament. South transept: 3 reset late C17 and early C18 finely-carved wall monuments, and C18 ledger stones. Incised marble wall tablet to George Dale, the Oxford anatomist, d.1625, shows demi-figure of Dale pointing at a skull. Nave has late C19 roof: round-headed west door of c,1200 has keel-moulded arch over engaged columns with stiff-leaf capitals. C15 four-bay arcade with octagonal shafts to north aisle, which has late C19 font set on C15 octagonal shaft. North chapel has wall tablet with broken segmental pediment to Thomas White, d.1664 and C17 and C18 ledger stones, some to the White family. C17 heraldic achievement, C15 niche and corbel; monument to Sir John Golafre, d.1442, has reclining effigy of Sir John laid on chest tomb with brattished cornice and heraldic shields: open arches with cusped spandrels expose gruesome cadaver, lying on a shroud tied at the head and pulled back at sides to reveal the corpse. Sir John willed that a chantry priest be employed in his chapel, and be accommodated with 5 almsmen in a newly erected building, now the White Hart Inn (q.v.). Extra information: a drawing of 1809 depicts a 3-storey tower with Decorated windows: accounts show that it was partly demolished and rebuilt in that year, and also after a fire damaged the church in 1893. (Buildings of England: Berkshire, p.145; B.F.L. Clarke and H.ti.Colvin, The Rebuilding and Repair of Berkshire Churches during the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Berkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol.55 (1965-7), p.77; National Monuments Record).

Listing NGR: SU4234198904

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

249558

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (1966), 145
Berkshire Archaeological Journal in Berkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol. 55, (1967), 77

End of official list entry

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