St Nicholas Church is a redundant

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the village of Freefolk, Hampshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands to the south of the B3400 road and the River Test, some east of Whitchurch.

History

The presence of a church on the site was recorded in the Domesday Book, but the present church dates from the 13th century. The windows and chancel screen were added in the 15th century. In 1703 the interior of the church was remodelled. During the 19th century the parish of Freefolk was united with that of Laverstoke. In 1896 a new, larger church was built to the north, on the other side of the road, and the functions of St Nicholas were transferred to this church, St Mary's, Laverstoke. St Nicholas was declared redundant on 11 December 1974 and was vested in the Churches Conservation Trust on 27 October 1976.

Architecture

Exterior

The church consists of a single rectangular cell measuring by . It is constructed in stone rubble with stone dressings. Its walls are partly rendered, and are supported by brick buttresses. The roof is tiled. At the west end of the roof is a

weatherboarded Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern America ...

bellcote with a lead-covered pyramidal roof. The windows are Perpendicular in style, those on the sides (two on the north, three on the south) having a single light, the west window has two lights and the east window three lights. On the south side is a doorway, above which is a plaque bearing the date 1703.

Interior

Around the interior of the church is a moulded

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

dating from 1703. On the east wall of the church, on each side of the altar, are painted boards containing the

Lord's prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

and the

Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

, and on the south wall is a large board inscribed with the Ten Commandments. On the north wall, opposite the south door, are three layers of wall paintings. To the east of this is the large Jacobean monument to Sir Richard Powlett who died in 1614. This consists of a recumbent

effigy An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

on a tomb chest. Two figures kneeling at the front represent his two daughters.Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, The kings England, Arthur Mee. Published 1939. Hodder and Stoughton The monument is housed in an elaborate surround and enclosed in wrought iron railings. At the west end of the church is a 15th-century screen. Also in the church are two hatchments, a

Royal arms The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Varian ...

dated 1701, and a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

References

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