St Nicholas's Church, Tresco, is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

located in

Tresco Tresco may refer to: * Tresco, Elizabeth Bay, a historic residence in New South Wales, Australia * Tresco, Isles of Scilly, an island off Cornwall, England, United Kingdom * Tresco, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia * a nickname referring to ...

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

, UK.

History

Originally two old cottages were used by the

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...

(SPCK) as a church. Augustus Smith provided funds to make the building cruciform, adding a north transept (the cottages formed an aisle with south transept) and an eastern end. According to tradition a gallery was constructed from the timbers of a ship wrecked on

St Helen's St Helens or St. Helen's may refer to: Places Australia * St Helens, Queensland (Fraser Coast Region), a locality in the Fraser Coast Region * St Helens, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a locality in the Toowoomba Region * St Helens Beach, Queenslan ...

; increasing the capacity to 200. Edith Dorrien-Smith laid the foundation stone of the

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 of St Nicholas on 12 September 1877, near the old building. The principal benefactor was Lady Sophia Tower. The church was opened for worship on 17 June 1879 by

Edward White Benson Edward White Benson (14 July 1829 – 11 October 1896) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death. Before this, he was the first Bishop of Truro, serving from 1877 to 1883, and began construction of Truro Cathedral. He was previousl ...

, the first

Bishop of Truro The Bishop of Truro is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Truro in the Province of Canterbury. History There had been between the 9th and 11th centuries a Bishopric of Cornwall until it was merged with Crediton ...

. It was consecrated on 16 July 1882, a delay due to an undisclosed ″''legal difficulty''″. The dedication of the church to

St Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

is the same as the dedication of the medieval

Tresco Abbey Tresco Abbey Gardens are located on the island of Tresco in the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom. The 17 acre gardens were established by the nineteenth-century proprietor of the islands, Augustus Smith, originally as a private garden within th ...

, the remains of which are in

Tresco Abbey Gardens Tresco Abbey Gardens are located on the island of Tresco in the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom. The 17 acre gardens were established by the nineteenth-century proprietor of the islands, Augustus Smith, originally as a private garden within the ...

. The new churchyard included the old one, and was planted with

aloe ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Accessed on: 06 Nov 2022 The most wid ...

s, dracaenas, flowering plants and evergreens. The three-panelled

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

is made of red serpentine and inlaid with a marble cross,

aureola An aureola or aureole (diminutive of Latin ''aurea'', "golden") is the radiance of luminous cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, surrounds the whole figure. In Romance languages, the noun Aureola is usually more related to the d ...

and sacred emblems. It was fixed in position in May 1879. The font is also made of serpentine, mounted on small granite columns. The reredos and font were manufactured by Messrs Bradbury at their serpentine manufactury at the Folly, Penzance. The reredos was made to the designs of

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lichg ...

Organ

The pipe organ dates from 1886 and is by the builder

Eustace Ingram Eustace Ingram (6 August 1839 – 10 December 1924) was a British organ builder based in London.Organa Britannica. Organs in Great Britain 1660 - 1860. James Boeringer. Bucknell University Press. 1989. Early life and work He was born in 1839 an ...

. The specification can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Parish structure

St Nicholas's Church is within the United Benefice of the

parishes, comprising * All Saints' Church, Bryher *

St Agnes' Church, St Agnes St Agnes' Church is a parish church in the Church of England located in St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, UK. History The Anglican church is dedicated to St Agnes of Rome. The first church was built in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, but it w ...

. * St Martin's Church, St Martin's * St Mary's Church, St Mary's *

St Mary's Old Church, St Mary's St Mary's Old Church, St Mary's is a parish church in the Church of England located in Old Town on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, United Kingdom. History The Anglican church of St Mary was built at Old Town, Isles of Scilly during the 1 ...

Gallery

Image:TrescoChurch1.JPG, The sanctuary Image:TrescoChurch2.JPG, The organ Image:TrescoChurch4.JPG, The war memorial

References

Sources

* The Buildings of England, Cornwall.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

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Churches completed in 1879 19th-century Church of England church buildings