Description

IDBURY CHURCH STREET
SP22SW (North side)
6/103 Church of St. Nicholas
27.8.57
GV I

Parish church. C12, remodelled and extended C14 with late C19 restoration.
Uncoursed limestone rubble; stone slate and lead roofs with stepped coped verges
and moulded parapets. Nave and chancel with bellcote at junction; north aisle;
north-west tower and south porch. Tower. At west end of and incorporated into
north aisle. Late C14 in 3 stages (roughcast to lower stages on west) with
stepped angle buttresses to north-west corner, moulded string courses (lowest at
eaves level of north aisle) and embattled parapet with gargoyles on north and
south sides. Belfry has stone slate-louvred 2-light pointed cusped windows with
quatrefoils to apex and hoodmoulds. North side has narrow rectangular window
immediately above string course to third stage. West side has pointed doorway
with apparently truncated cusped 3-light pointed window directly above; narrow
round-headed window to second stage. Nave. South side has moulded cornice of
former eaves line broken to left by tall square-headed late C15 window with 2
cinquefoil-headed lights and by similar window of 3 lights to right. Fixed to
wall to left of left window is memorial to John Wilts (d.1798) with carved head
of angel to top. Above cornice are 4 late C15 clerestory windows with
four-centred arches, panel tracery and hoodmoulds, that to west window
terminating in head-stops. Contemporary grotesque heads and gargoyles to cornice
of parapet. Roughly central C14 gabled porch has double-chamfered pointed outer
arch dying into jambs. Roughcast west wall of nave has early C14 three-light
window with reticulated tracery and hoodmould; carved head of bishop or mitred
abbot to cornice of parapet. Outline of former steep roof pitch visible to east
wall and C14 bellcote to apex has segmental arch and crocketed pinnacles. North
aisle. North side has reset C12 doorway: round-headed arch of 3 orders with a
small band of zig-zag. Nook-shafts with chevron decoration and scalloped
capitals. Tympanum with later infilled arch cut into it has a deep pattern of
small circles; hoodmould. Early C14 trefoil-headed lancet with hoodmould to
right and C19 integral lateral stack immediately to left. Two square-headed
2-light windows of c.1500 to left with straight bands of quatrefoils to heads;
right restored. East wall has early C14 three-light window with intersecting
cusped tracery; trefoil heads to main divisions with trefoils and elongated
quatrefoils to spandrels. Chancel on stepped chamfered plinth has early C14
trefoil-headed lancet with hoodmould to left on north side. 3-light C15 window
like those in nave clerestory but infilled to lower part lighting squint-passage
projection (see interior) to right. East wall has early C14 pointed
trefoil-headed window in 3 lights and C19 foliated cross to gable. South side
has trefoil-headed lancet with hoodmould to west and C15 square-headed window
with 3 cinquefoil-headed lights, mouchettes and label to east. Interior. Porch
has image bracket or holy water stoup incorporated into stone bench on east
side. C14 pointed south doorway has one order of convex and one order of hollow
moulding with hoodmould; nail-studded plank door with strap hinges. Early C14
nave arcade in 3 bays has piers of filleted quatrefoil section with moulded
plinth and capitals and pointed arches with 2 orders of wave moulding. C14
segmental-pointed chancel arch with inner wave-moulded order dying into jambs is
possibly recut from an earlier arch. Tower cutting into west bay of arcade has
pointed doorway with nail-studded plank door and hoodmould in west face. Doorway
to former rood loft to east of east bay of arcade. C15 diagonal squint-passage
from north aisle to chancel has ribbed vault and chamfered 4-centred arch at
each end. Late C15 cambered tie beam roof in 4 bays to nave has arch-braced wall
posts resting on carved stone corbels and blank stone shields at wall-plate
level. Probably C17 collar and tie beam roof to north aisle and C19
scissor-braced roof to chancel. Pointed cinquefoil-headed piscina with credence
shelf in south wall of chancel and plain corbelled brackets to either side of
east window. Corbelled image bracket to north-east corner of aisle with recessed
image bracket immediately to west. C15 wooden screen in chancel arch has 10
one-light divisions with Perpendicular tracery patterns and rosettes to ends;
C15 bench ends also reused in early C20 pulpit. Early C19 box pews to east end
of nave. Probably C17 communion table with dumpy turned balusters and wooden
funeral bier by door to tower. Fragments of medieval stained glass in cusped
heads of clerestory window of north aisle. Further C14 fragments in east window
of north aisle including mid-C14 roundel of female head. Monuments. Brass plate
to Thomas Hautin (d.1643) to south of chancel arch and large memorial with
broken scroll pediment to John Logan (d.1637) on north wall of north aisle.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp657-8)
[2547]

Listing NGR: SP2361120040

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529336

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.

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