Interior & Stained Glass
The interior is small but perfectly proportioned. The chancel arch is carved on both sides. The chevrons of the hood find echoes in the zigzags of the supporting shafts. (But should the shafts have been assembled as twists, like barley sugar, rather than zigzags?)
Note also the string courses which still contain the occasional original medieval carving.
Stained Glass
The stained glass is mostly Victorian, but good, nevertheless.
The wheel window is Early Victorian although Early English in style and feeling. It is the work of W Miller.
The window showing the church's Patron Saint, St Nicholas, was designed by Sir Martin Travers in 1928. The most endearing touch is the church cradled in the saint's left arm, but note the other characteristic symbols - the children, the motif of three golden balls.
The delightful quadrefoil window high in the west wall is reminiscent of the grisaille style.
The three lancet windows above the altar.
Wall Paintings
The wall paintings are thought to be co-eval with the church, i.e. about 1180 or last quarter of the Twelfth Century.
Copies were made in 1838 by Herbert L. Smith shortly before the restoration of the Church. Unhappily the original wall paintings were largely lost during the restoration but fortunately Smith’s original watercolours are held in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, http://www.sal.org.uk/ Burlington House, London. We would like to express our appreciation to the Librarians of the Society who gave us access to the paintings and sought out other information that was available in the Library. Their help was above and beyond the call of duty; it made our task easier and the experience more exciting and rewarding than we had any right to expect. Thankyou Society of Antiquaries!
The paintings are primarily in harmonies of red and yellow with some blue. They have been compared with early works in the apse of St. Gabriel’s Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral for nobility of style, and details in the drapery and ornamental borders.
For further information, see
Keyser C.E., A List of the Buildings in Great Britain and Ireland having Mural and
Other Painted Decorations of dates prior to the latter part of the 16th Century, 3rd edition, London, printed by Eyre and Spottiswode for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1883.
Tristram E.W., English Medieval Wall Paintings: The Twelfth Century, published on behalf of The Pilgrim Trust by Humphrey Milford, OUP, 1944.
Archaeologia, vol xlvii, pp 164-5.