| St Nicolas's Church | |
|---|---|
| Parish Church of St Nicolas | |
 St Nicolas's Church in Bridge Street | |
 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | St. Nicolas's Church, Abingdon |
| History | |
| Dedication | Saint Nicolas |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Norman, Decorated Gothic, Perpendicular Gothic |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Oxford |
| Province | Canterbury |
The Church of Saint Nicolas is a Church of England parish church in Abingdon in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly within Berkshire).
The church was added to the gateway of the already-existing Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary around the year 1170, although the oldest remaining piece is reportedly from 1180. [1] While the monks used the abbey church, St Nicolas's was built for their lay servants and tenants. The Normans propagated the cult of Saint Nicholas and many English churches are named after him. The earliest documentary evidence of this church's existence is in a ruling about tithes in 1177 by Pope Alexander III. Saint Edmund of Abingdon worshipped there as a child and his mother was initially buried there. From its early years, there is evidence that a school used a room in St Nicolas which has links with the founding of Abingdon School. [2] A tower was added and the chancel rebuilt in the 15th century.
The church became a parish church in 1372, when the parish of St Nicholas was carved out of the parish of St Helen's. The new parish consisted of scattered pieces of land at Fitzharris, Northcourt and Bayworth, which were granges of the Abbey, as well as a mill on the River Ock and the precincts of the Abbey itself. The purpose of the new parish was to provide an income to the Abbey, after the devastation caused by the Black Death and the sacking of the Abbey in 1327. The two parishes were reunited in 1989 to form the single ecclesiastical parish of Abingdon. [3]
For civil purposes the parish joined Abingdon St Helen's to form the civil parish of Abingdon in 1894. [4]
Oxfordshire is a landlocked county in South East England. The ceremonial county borders Warwickshire to the north-west, Northamptonshire to the north-east, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, Wiltshire to the south-west and Gloucestershire to the west.
Abingdon-on-Thames, known just as Abingdon between 1974 and 2012, is a historic market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Historically the county town of Berkshire, since 1974 Abingdon has been administered by the Vale of White Horse district within Oxfordshire.
Farnborough is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Wantage. The village is 720 feet (220 m) above sea level on a ridge aligned east – west in the Berkshire Downs. It is the highest village in Berkshire.
Abingdon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery also known as St Mary's Abbey located in Abingdon, historically in the county of Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire, England.
Baulking or Balking is a village and civil parish about 3 1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) southeast of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 Boundary Changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.
Drayton is a village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) south of Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Sutton Wick. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 2,353.
Charney Bassett is a village and civil parish about 4 1⁄2 miles (7 km) north of Wantage and 6 miles (10 km) east of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 314.
Upton is a spring line village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs, about 2 miles (3 km) south of Didcot in the Vale of the White Horse district. It is currently administered as part of Oxfordshire, England, however it lies in the historic county of Berkshire, and was administered as part of it until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 421.
Colchester in Essex, England, has a number of notable churches.
Wootton is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse about 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The parish of Wootton includes the hamlets of Whitecross and Lamborough Hill and the western part of Boars Hill. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,709.
Marcham is a village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) west of Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,905.
Appleton is a village in the civil parish of Appleton-with-Eaton, about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Abingdon. Appleton was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded Appleton-with-Eaton's parish population as 915.
Fyfield is a village in Fyfield and Tubney civil parish, about 4.5 miles (7 km) west of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village used to be on the main A420 road between Oxford and Faringdon, but a bypass now carries the main road just south of the village.
Garford is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The parish is bounded by the River Ock to the north, by two tributaries of the Ock to the south, and by field boundaries and the road between Kingston Bagpuize and West Hanney to the west. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 229.
Wickham is a village about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-west of Newbury, Berkshire, England. The M4 motorway passes just north of it. According to the Post Office the population of the village was included in the civil parish of Welford at the 2011 Census.
Edwin Dolby was an English Victorian architect who practised in Abingdon. His works include the design of Abingdon School.
St Helen's Church is a Church of England parish church in Abingdon on the bank of the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. The church is thought to occupy the site of the Anglo-Saxon Helenstowe Nunnery.
Shippon is a village in Oxfordshire, England, 1 mile west of Abingdon. It is the largest village in the civil parish of St. Helen Without, in Vale of White Horse District. It was in Berkshire until it was transferred to Oxfordshire in 1974.
Dry Sandford is a village in the Vale of White Horse district of England, about 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Abingdon. It is one of two villages in the civil parish of St Helen Without. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire.
Goosey is a village and civil parish in England, about 4.5 miles (7 km) northwest of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. Goosey was part of Berkshire until 1974, when the Vale of White Horse was transferred to Oxfordshire.