St Nicholas's Church in

Berwick Bassett Berwick Bassett is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of Marlborough and southwest of Swindon. The village is on the west bank of a headstream of the River Kennet and close to the A4361 road, formerly the ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England dates from the early 13th century. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is now a

redundant church A redundant church, now referred to as a "closed church", is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused churc ...

in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. It was declared redundant in 1972, and was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Trust the next year. Services continue to be held at the church a few times a year. The church can only be approached by a pedestrian footpath. The redbrick

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

was built between 1199 and 1221, with the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

being added in the 14th century and built of

sarsen Sarsen stones are silicified sandstone blocks found in quantity in Southern England on Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire; in Kent; and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, and Hampshire. Geology ...

stone. On the south wall is a scratch dial. The interior has a

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 ...

from the 13th century and a

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...

from the 15th. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

altar rail The altar rail (also known as a communion rail or chancel rail) is a low barrier, sometimes ornate and usually made of stone, wood or metal in some combination, delimiting the chancel or the sanctuary and altar in a church, from the nave and oth ...

and

pew A pew () is a long bench (furniture), bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating Member (local church), members of a Church (congregation), congregation or choir in a Church (building), church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview ...

s are from the 19th century. There is a

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with four rin ...

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

, a shallow basin used for washing the communion vessels. Monuments include wall tablets to Henry Webb (died 1776), John Nalder (1794), and Elizabeth Nalder (1835). In the 1660s the church was visited by

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the ''Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist, ...

, who described the memorials and tombs he saw. In 1857 the church underwent a major

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for A ...

. This included replacement of the original wooden tower with the current stone structure which contains three bells dating from the 17th century. At this point the walls were rendered and

whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used ...

ed.

Parish

The benefice was united with that of

Winterbourne Monkton Winterbourne Monkton is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about north of Avebury Stone Circle and northwest of Marlborough. The village lies immediately west of the A4361 road between Swindon and Devizes. History T ...

in 1865. In 1929 the union was severed, and Berwick was instead united with

Winterbourne Bassett __NOTOC__ Winterbourne Bassett is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about southwest of Swindon and northwest of Marlborough. The village lies just west of the A4361 road between Swindon and Devizes, about north of Avebu ...

. In 1952 the union was again dissolved, in order that the incumbent of the united benefice of

Avebury Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in t ...

with Winterbourne Monkton could also hold Berwick. Those benefices were united in 1970, and their three parishes united at the same time; in 1975 a team ministry was created for the area, which became known as the Upper Kennet benefice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berwick Bassett, Saint Nicholas 13th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in Wiltshire Grade II* listed churches in Wiltshire Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust

Parish

See also

References