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List entry Summary

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

Name: CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS

List entry Number: 1188621

Location

CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, THE STREET

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

County	District	District Type	Parish
Surrey	Guildford	District Authority	Compton

National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.

Grade: I

Date first listed: 14-Jun-1967

Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry.

Legacy System Information

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

Legacy System: LBS

UID: 288341

Asset Groupings

This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.

List entry Description

Summary of Building

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Reasons for Designation

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

SU 94 NE COMPTON C.P. THE STREET (West Side)

3/84 Church of St Nicholas

14.6.67 I

Church. C11 tower with .C12, Romanesque alterations to chancel, enlargement of nave circa 1180 and further small alterations in C14, C15 and C19. Restored by Henry Woodyer. Mortar rendered Bargate rubblestone with ashlar dressings. Plain tiled roof with wood shingled broach spire. Nave with pentice roof aisles, double chancel to east and square tower to west, with porch to south. Unbuttressed tower with lancet openings in each face of bellchamber. Of blocked windows in chancel walls with simple hollow mouldings, one to north and one to south. C13 lancet windows in aisles alternating with foiled head, two-light aisle windows. Decorated window to east end of south aisle, C19 triangular, tile hung, hipped roof, dormers on south side of nave roof with one dormer in chancel to north and penticed roof addition to north side. C12 south door in gabled porch with round order and one order of chevron zig-zag moulding to surround. North door - blocked and round headed.

Interior: Three bay round pier arcades to nave under scalloped and stylised foliage capitals, curious clover leaf type capital to south pier, unchamfered arches. Crown post roof. Soffits of nave arcade crimped as is chancel arch. Nook shafts to chancel arch with an order of zig-zag above. Braced crown post roof. Tower arch with abaci imposts, zig-zag and patterned mouldings to chancel windows. Sanctuary: two storeys, vaulted below. Separate chapel above open to chancel and separated from it by Romanesque guard rail - one of the earliest pieces of church woodwork in the country. Restoration indicates that the chambers were built inside the existing chancel walls. Lower chamber: Quadripartite ribbed vault with thick ribs and single chamfer, Keystone. Arch leading to lower chapel from the chancel has two orders, a deeply cut inner roll moulding and an outer moulding of saw-tooth ornament, similar to formalized beak-heads, supported on small nook shafts. Outside is a label moulding composed of dog-tooth ornament, an early example. The small room to the south of the upper chamber contains a wooden staircase and a Norman window on the south wall and is thought to have been originally a cell or oratory.

Fittings: Upper chancel chamber: altered and re-set piscina, moved in C12 alterations. Guard rail - late C12 with simple round arched arcade on elegant thin stems with crocketed capitals, badly worn. Altar rails, tower screen (formerly across the chancel) and pulpit are all Jacobean, circa 1620. Pulpit panelled with strapwork decoration and sounding board above, all very ornate. Early Norman font: square bowl above a big circular stem and ring. Chequerboard painting to chancel arch wall.

Stained glass: small trefoil roundel in east wall of lower chapel showing Virgin and child, possibly C13. Also some fragments of C17 glass remaining.

Monuments: north aisle wall - C14 arched, cusped wall recesses, one depressed. South porch, west wall: monument to Edward Fulham, Canon of Windsor. Died 1694, monument erected 1778. Grey stone ground with white stone apron and Coat of Arms and floral decoration. Garlanded white stone urn above in Late Palladian style, by Van Gelder.

The church is unique in the South of England and the two storey arrangement of the chancel is extremely rare.

PEVSNER: BUILDINGS OF ENGLAND, SURREY (1971) pp 166-168 VCH SURREY VOLUME 3 SCHEDULE OF SURREY ANTIQUITIES 1913 pp 19-21

Listing NGR: SU9544647022

Selected Sources

1. Book  Reference - Author: PM Johnston - Title: Schedule of Surrey Antiquities - Date: 1913 - Page References: 19-21
2. Article  Reference - Author: HE Malden - Title: The Victoria History of the County of Surrey - Date: 1902 - Journal Title: The Victoria History of the Counties of England - Volume: 3
3. Article  Reference - Author: Nikolaus Pevsner Ian Nairn and Bridget Cherry - Title: Surrey - Date: 1971 - Journal Title: The Buildings of England - Page References: 166-168

National Grid Reference: SU 95445 47021

Map

This copy shows the entry on 20-May-2013 at 12:18:20.