St Nicolas Church, Guildford

St Nicolas Church, Guildford
St Nicolas Church, Guildford
	51°14′05″N0°34′39″W / 51.23466°N 0.57747°W
OS grid reference	SU994492
Location	Bury Street, Guildford, Surrey
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	High Church
Website
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint Nicolas
Consecrated	April 1876
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Samuel Sanders Teulon, Ewan Christian
Style	Victorian Gothic
Administration
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Guildford
Archdeaconry	Surrey
Deanery	Guildford
Parish	St Nicolas
Clergy
Rector	Revd. Neil Roberts
Laity
Director of music	Rick Erickson
Churchwarden(s)	Darrol Radley
Parish administrator	Cath Anderson

Last updated December 11, 2024

St Nicolas' is an Anglican parish church in Guildford, England.

Location and parish

Location

St Nicolas’ church (spelt ‘Nicholas’ until the early 20th century) is on the west bank of the River Wey, at the bottom of Guildford High Street, which extends across the river via the now pedestrianised Town Bridge. The present church, consecrated in 1876, is the third church on the site. It is one of the three ancient parish churches of the town. The other two have combined in their ministry, Holy Trinity and St Mary's,^[1] on the east side of the river, which had the majority of the townsfolk until the 20th century when the town expanded westwards across the river.^[2]

Parish

The parish is one of the three ancient parishes of Guildford borough, together with Holy Trinity and St Mary's,.^[1] Those parishes lie on the east bank of the river, but the ancient borough extended across the river to include the westernmost part of the much larger St Nicolas’ parish. The ancient parish was c. 2600 acres, with the easternmost section historically incorporated into Guildford borough, but with a large rural hinterland extending west into Godalming A Hundred and including the tithings of Artington and Littleton. During the last century, the creation of the new parishes of All Saints in Onslow Village and St Francis Littleton have reduced the size of St Nicolas’ parish. The parish includes Loseley, the home of the More (later More-Molyneux) family since 1509, whose memorial chapel, dating from c. 1550, is attached to the south side of St Nicolas’ church.^[3] Also within the parish on St Catherine's Hill is the ruined Grade 1 listed St Catherine’s Chapel dating c. 1300, an enigmatic building with royal and pilgrimage connections.^[1]

Literary connections

Hymn and carol writers and composers

John Mason Neale wrote and/or composed: Good King Wenceslas , O happy band of pilgrims: Deacon (junior clergy).

John Samuel Bewley Monsell wrote and/or composed Fight the good fight and O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Rector (parish priest).

Secular works

Writer P.G. Wodehouse was baptised with the waters of the font.

Son of the rector John Manship (1612-1689)^[4] was Samuel Manship, a London publisher of theology and philosophy.

Architecture

The building is of cut stone and some mortar-infused rubblestone and is listed in the middle category of statutory listing, Grade II* chiefly for its ashlar-cut, bi-colour stone tower with quoining, its internal arches, pillars and its many decorative apertures by Teulon and Ewan Christian.

The west end has a straight gable end excepting tall, shallow outside buttresses in light-stone relief. It has matching pointed arch windows consisting of tall close lancet lights and a small roundel above. A five-light trefoil window is above. The church is built from the south and west Surrey yellow ironstone-sandstone (Bargate stone) with 10 consecutive round windows, grouped in pairs, towards the simple string course eave. Above immediately is guttering of equal height before the ascent of a long hipped slate roof surmounted by a simple yellow stone cross on the west end. Its north lower, long vestry and side aisle with west-facing main door is between the height of the main building culminating in a transept matching the width of the square porch tower to which it joins and running equally to the south where it forms the vestry. A square belfry tower with flagpole surmount the chancel in lighter stone than all but the northern additions.

The north transept gable end is embellished by a large plate-tracery, three-light-plus-roundel window on a sill and under a hood moulding. The chancel itself, facing east, is apsidal (hemi-spherical as to the upper part and rounded as to the lower) with vaulting.^[3] It has a marble floor and mosaics.^[3]

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References

1 2 3 Church of England Guildford postcode GU2 4JX and rest of parish map Parish Finder. Accessed 18 April 2015.
↑ H.E. Malden, ed. (1911). "The borough of Guildford: Introduction and castle". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
1 2 3 Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1029291)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 April 2015.
↑ Venn. Alumni Oxonienses; the Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714; Their Parentage, Birthplace, and Year of Birth, With a Record of Their Degrees at http://www.mocavo.com/ retrieved 25 October 2015

External links

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[acny-1] 1 2 3 Church of England Guildford postcode GU2 4JX and rest of parish map Parish Finder. Accessed 18 April 2015.

[malden-2] H.E. Malden, ed. (1911). "The borough of Guildford: Introduction and castle". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 29 October 2012.

[nh-3] 1 2 3 Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1029291)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 April 2015.

[4] Venn. Alumni Oxonienses; the Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714; Their Parentage, Birthplace, and Year of Birth, With a Record of Their Degrees at http://www.mocavo.com/ retrieved 25 October 2015

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v t e Borough of Guildford
Towns, villages, most notable neighbourhoods and hamlets	Albury Artington Ash Ash Vale Burntcommon Burpham Chilworth Compton East Clandon East Horsley Effingham Fairlands Farley Green Gomshall Guildford Holmbury St Mary Jacobs Well Merrow Normandy Ockham Peaslake Pirbright Puttenham Ripley St Martha Seale Send Shackleford Shalford Shere Stoughton Tongham Wanborough West Clandon West Horsley Wisley Wood Street Village Worplesdon
Parks and public woodlands	Albury Park Clandon Park Hatchlands Park On the Greensand Ridge The Hurtmoor Winterfold Forest Ockham Park Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons Seale Chalk Pit Silent Pool On the North Downs Newlands Corner St Martha's Hill wooded slopes of the Hog's Back Stoke Park Sutton Place Wanborough Grange RHS Garden, Wisley
Places of worship	Old St Peter and St Paul's Church, Albury St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth Guildford Cathedral Holy Trinity Church, Guildford St Martha's Church St Nicolas' Church, Guildford St Mary's Church, Guildford Watts Cemetery Chapel
Education	Academy of Contemporary Music Ash Manor School Christ's College, Guildford George Abbot School Guildford College Guildford County School Guildford High School Guildford School of Acting Howard of Effingham School King's College, Guildford Knowl Hill School Merrist Wood College Ripley Court School Royal Grammar School St Peter's School Tormead School University of Law University of Surrey
Transport	Ash railway station Ash Vale railway station Chilworth railway station Clandon railway station Effingham Junction railway station Gomshall railway station Guildford bus station Guildford railway station Horsley railway station London Road (Guildford) railway station Shalford railway station Tongham railway station Wanborough railway station Worplesdon railway station
Buildings and structures	Abbot's Hospital Chilworth Manor Clandon Park House Electric Theatre G Live Guildford Castle Guildford Guildhall Guildford House Guildford Museum Guildford Spectrum Hogs Back Brewery Pirbright Institute Royal Surrey County Hospital Sports Ground, Woodbridge Road, Guildford The Undercroft Watts Gallery Wisley Airfield Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Sport	Charlotteville Cycling Club Guildford City F.C. Guildford Crows Aussie Rules FC Guildford Flames Merrow F.C. Surrey Storm Surrey Scorchers Tongham F.C.
People	List of people from Guildford