Description

FRANKTON MAIN STREET
SP47SW (North side)
1/64 Church of St. Nicholas
06/10/60
GV II*
Church. Lower stage of tower C13, upper stage C15. Rest rebuilt early C14.
Porch, vestry and major restoration 1872 by G.G. Scott. Coursed squared
limestone with red sandstone quoins and dressings. Old tile roofs, with ridge
cresting to chancel; nave has moulded parapet; vestry and aisle lean-to roofs
have coped gable parapets. Chancel, nave, south aisle and porch, north vestry
and west tower. 2-bay chancel, 3-bay nave. Splayed plinth throughout. Chancel
has east wall largely rebuilt in C18/C19 red brick, with large brick and stone
diagonal buttresses. Chancel and aisle have 3-light east windows with bar
tracery; chancel window has hood mould with head stops. 2 south buttresses of 2
offsets. Chamfered square-headed doorway with plank door. Chancel and aisle have
2 straight-headed 3-light windows with rectilinear tracery and hood moulds with
block stops to chancel. Small trefoiled ogee low-side lancet to north and south
sides. Moulded cornice. Aisle has restored or renewed chamfered and moulded
south doorway with hood mould; plank door with old strap hinges. Open-fronted
timber porch has glazed sides. South clerestory of 2 paired trefoiled lights.
North side of nave has 2 pairs of trefoiled lancets. Buttress between nave and
chancel. Vestry has north gable, paired trefoiled lancets to east and
straight-headed door to west. Tracery of 1872 throughout. Tower of 2 stages.
High first stage has massive sandstone clasping west buttresses: C19 limestone
east buttresses of 2 offsets. Splayed plinth. Paired C19 west lancets. C13
lancet to south and west. Rendered chamfered north doorway. Moulded string
course. Second stage has Tudor-arched 2-light traceried bell openings, paired to
south, with blind traceried reveals and hood moulds. Moulded cornice and
embattled parapet. Panelled pinnacles, renewed in 1976. Fragments of gargoyles.
Interior: chancel has arched aumbry. Square-headed vestry door. C19
scissor-braced roof has scrolled spandrels, and two C14 head corbels to west.
Chancel arch of 2 chamfered orders, the inner with half-octagonal responds and
moulded capitals. Nave has C19 moulded queen post roof with curved braces to tie
beam, collar and purlins. Early C14 south arcade of 2 chamfered orders with
octagonal piers and responds and moulded capitals. West organ gallery. Aisle has
restored ogee piscina. Eroded pinnacle removed from tower. Fittings all of
c.1872. Chancel has encaustic tile floor. Gothic-style pulpit, altar rails,
screen, stalls and pews. Stained glass: east window in memory of Colonel
Biddulph, killed in the Indian mutiny in 1857. The restoration cost 2,000.
(V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.6, pp.93-94; Buildings of England: Warwickshire,
p.295; Kelly's Directory of Warwickshire, 1892, p.100).

Listing NGR: SP4237070160

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17550894

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5