St Nicholas Church, Kenilworth facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Nicholas Church, Kenilworth |
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St Nicholas Church seen from the west
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| Location | Kenilworth |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Previous denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | St Nicholas Kenilworth |
| History | |
| Dedication | Saint Nicholas |
| Consecrated | 1 June 1949 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | active |
| Heritage designation | Grade I |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Norman, Decorated, Perpendicular, Gothic Revival |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | New Red Sandstone |
| Bells | 6 |
| Tenor bell weight | 14 long tons 0 cwt 22 qr (31,980 lb or 14.5 t) |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Coventry |
| Province | Canterbury |
St Nicholas Church is a historic Church of England parish church located in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England. It is built from local red sandstone. The church shows different building styles, including Norman, Decorated Gothic, Perpendicular Gothic, and Gothic Revival from a major update in 1864.
St Nicholas Church is a Grade I listed building. This means it is considered a very important historic building that needs special protection. The church stands close to the ruins of St Mary's Abbey, a Norman and Gothic abbey. Much of the churchyard of St Nicholas now covers the old abbey grounds.
Contents
History of St Nicholas Church
For a long time, people in Kenilworth had to travel about 3 miles (5 km) to Stoneleigh for church services. This was because Kenilworth was part of Stoneleigh's parish.
When Was the Church Built?
No one knows exactly when St Nicholas Church was first built. Geoffrey de Clinton, an important person who worked for King Henry I, founded the Augustinian priory (which later became an abbey) of St Mary the Virgin in 1119. He also started building Kenilworth Castle in the early 1120s. Around the same time, he created a town (borough) in Kenilworth. However, there are no records of him building a church for the local people at that time.
A tax record from 1210 mentions a chapel in Kenilworth. But we don't know where this chapel was or who used it. Some old sandstone cottages (12 and 13 Castle Green) might be the remains of an older, more important building. Their shape and thick walls could mean they were a Norman chapel. They even have a Mass dial, which is like an old sundial for telling church service times. Still, there's no clear proof they are the chapel from 1210.
It was common for a local church to be built next to a large abbey, like St Margaret's Church next to Westminster Abbey. Kenilworth Priory, like Westminster Abbey, had control over the parish of St Nicholas.
One of the oldest parts of St Nicholas Church is the base of the font, which is from the Norman period (before the late 1100s). The lower parts of the west tower also have very thick walls, which could be Norman. But this is just a guess.
The first clear written mention of a church for local people in Kenilworth is from 1285. The Registers of Godfrey Giffard, who was the Bishop of Worcester, mention a "parson of the church at Kenilworth." The church is also listed in a tax record from 1291 by Pope Nicholas IV. So, it's likely that St Nicholas Church was built sometime between 1210 and 1285.
How the Church Grew Over Time
The first church might have only had a nave (the main part where people sit) and a chancel (the area around the altar). In the chancel, there are special seats called sedilia from the Decorated Gothic period (around 1275 to 1380). This suggests some building work happened then.
In the 14th century, the nave was made wider. A south aisle was added with an arcade (a row of arches) of five sections. The octagonal (eight-sided) belfry and spire of the west tower are also from the 14th century, in the Decorated Gothic style.
Later in the 14th century, the nave was made wider again with a north aisle. This aisle has Perpendicular Gothic windows and a porch in the northwest. The north aisle's arcade has only three sections, as the porch takes up the fourth. A clerestory (a row of windows high up in the nave) was also added, which is also Perpendicular Gothic.
There's a small opening called a squint near the chancel arch. It allowed people on the south side of the nave to see the chancel. Many squints in old churches let a priest at a side altar see the main altar. But in this church, it might have been for a bell-ringer to see when to ring a Sanctus bell, which would have been in a small bell-gable above the chancel arch.
By the early 1200s, St Mary's Priory was supported by the king. It became an abbey in 1458. But during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538, it was taken over by the King. The King then sold most of the abbey's land, but he kept control over St Nicholas Church.
Changes After the Reformation
Most of the abbey was torn down by 1547. Some parts of the abbey's architecture were saved and used in St Nicholas Church. The most famous piece is the Norman west doorway in the west tower. Experts like Nikolaus Pevsner and Alexandra Wedgwood called it "the most beautiful Norman doorway in Warwickshire." This doorway might actually be made from pieces of more than one doorway from the demolished abbey, put together in the 1500s.
Workers tearing down the abbey melted the lead from its roof to make large blocks called "pigs." One of these blocks was lost until 1888, when it was found in the ruins. It has the stamp of King Henry VIII's officials. You can see it now in the northeast part of the chancel. In 1922, archaeologists found the sand molds used to cast these lead blocks at the abbey site.
The nave used to have a very steep roof until 1580. That year, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, had it lowered to its current flatter shape. You can still see the outline of the old, steeper roof on the east side of the tower. The chancel roof was repaired in 1692 by the Vicar, William Best, costing £80.
While the base of the church's font is Norman, the upper part and bowl were made later, in 1664. They replaced an older font that was likely damaged during the English Civil War.
In the 1700s, extra seating areas called galleries were added to the nave and aisles. A gallery was added in the north aisle in 1751, and another in the south aisle in 1760. We don't know exactly when the west gallery for church musicians was added, but it was there by 1772. All three galleries were removed in 1850. Two years later, a second Anglican church, St John the Evangelist, was built in Kenilworth. This helped reduce the number of people at St Nicholas'.
Victorian Era Updates
In 1858, lightning struck and damaged the church's spire, so it had to be completely rebuilt.
In 1775, a large three-decker pulpit was put in St Nicholas Church. It stood in the chancel arch, blocking the view of the altar for many people. Rev William Bickmore, who was the Vicar from 1855 to 1875, had it removed in 1860. Under Bickmore, the church underwent a big "drastic" restoration in 1864–65. A painting of the church's inside before this restoration shows the gallery in the south arcade and the old pulpit in the chancel arch. It also shows that the chancel arch was round, meaning it was Norman. Bickmore's restoration removed this old arch and replaced it with a new Gothic Revival one to match the other arches.
The painting before the restoration also shows a flat ceiling in the nave and chancel. Bickmore's restoration removed these ceilings.
The chancel was extended towards the east, and a two-section aisle was added to its south side. This was originally to create more seating. The north aisle was extended east by one section to make an organ loft, with a vestry (a room for clergy) attached. The south aisle was rebuilt with new Gothic Revival windows that matched the new aisle south of the chancel. The easternmost section of the south aisle was extended south to form a south transept (a part of the church that sticks out). However, the south window of this transept is older, with stained glass from 1832. The three-light east window in the chancel was added in either 1867 or 1876.
Until the 1500s, a rood screen (a screen separating the nave from the chancel) stood in the chancel arch. It had a gallery that could be reached by stairs. This screen was removed during the Reformation. In 1913, a new Gothic Revival chancel screen was put in, but without a rood (a crucifix). In 1918, the south aisle of the chancel was changed to become a Lady chapel.
Church Features
Important Memorials
The most notable memorials in the church are marble reliefs mounted on the walls. These are in the Neoclassical style. Joseph Nollekens (1737–1823) sculpted a small angel (putto) leaning on a funerary urn to remember John Bird, who died in 1772. Richard Westmacott sculpted a relief of Caroline Gresley, who died in 1817. His sculpture shows her lying on her deathbed, surrounded by her sad family, with an angel floating nearby.
Bells and Clock
In 1552, the church had four bells and a Sanctus bell. The Great Bell had been made for St Mary's when Thomas Kidderminster was Prior (1403–39). In 1656, because the bells had cracks, they were melted down and recast into a ring of five bells. These were re-hung in a new frame. In 1734, one bell was recast, and in 1793, another was recast.
In 1875, all but the tenor bell were removed. One bell was given to a new church in Surbiton. The other three were melted down and recast into five new bells by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough, increasing the total to six. Taylor's re-hung these bells in an oak frame. In the 1950s, this frame became loose, so in 1957, Taylor's replaced it with a strong steel frame set in concrete.
Simmons of Warwick made the current turret clock in the west tower in 1865. It was designed to have three dials, but only one was installed on the south side of the tower. However, in 1876, a dial was added to the ceiling of the ringing room. This special dial has only a minute hand and helps bell-ringers time their ringing.
Organ
In 1806, a small organ was installed in the church. In 1903, it was replaced by the current organ, built by J Charles Lee of Coventry. This organ has three manuals (keyboards) and 1,500 pipes. By 1947, it was in poor condition, but the church couldn't afford to fix it or buy a new one.
In 1949, Baron Kenilworth gave enough money for the church to buy a new two-manual electronic organ made by John Compton. Compton usually made organs for cinemas and ballrooms. The old pipe organ was left in place. By the early 1960s, the electronic organ wasn't working well. So, in 1962–63, Compton's restored the pipe organ and took back the electronic organ as part of the deal.
Churchyard
The churchyard has many old chest tombs from the 1700s and 1800s, and a few bale tombs. A granite column with a sculpture of a funerary urn marks the grave of Albert Morris. He was one of 34 people killed in the Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash on Christmas Eve 1874.
Imperial War Graves Commission headstones mark the graves of five servicemen from the First World War. These include four soldiers and a junior officer from the Royal Naval Air Service.
Royal Visits
In the Middle Ages, both Kenilworth Castle and St Mary's Abbey were connected to the royal family and had many royal visitors. However, we only know of English monarchs visiting the parish church after the Reformation.
Queen Elizabeth I visited Kenilworth in 1568 and 1575. The church has a silver-gilt chalice (a cup used in church services) and its cover made in 1568. This suggests she attended Holy Communion at St Nicholas that year. We know she did attend services there during her longer stay at the castle in July 1575.
King James I visited Kenilworth in 1616. For his special entry, the church's great doorway was "unsealed" (opened for the occasion).
Images for kids
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Lower stages of the west tower, showing the re-set Norman west portal below a Decorated Gothic window
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Stone sundial at the west end of the south aisle
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1776 watercolour of St Nicholas Church and (left) Bank House, seen from the west
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South side of what is now the Lady chapel, built in 1864
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Monument by Richard Westmacott to Caroline Gresley, who died in 1817
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Clock dial and abat-sons on the south side of the west tower
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Column marking the grave of Albert Morris, killed in the Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash on Christmas Eve 1874
