The Church of Saint Nicolas is a
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
in
Abingdon in the English county of
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
(formerly within
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
).
History
The church was added to the gateway of the already-existing
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
Abbey of Saint Mary around the year 1170, although the oldest remaining piece is reportedly from 1180.
While the
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s used the abbey church, St Nicolas's was built for their lay servants and tenants. The
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
propagated the cult of
Saint 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 ...
and many English churches are named after him. The earliest documentary evidence of this church's existence is in a ruling about
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...
s in 1177 by
Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland ( it, Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181.
A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a con ...
. Saint
Edmund of Abingdon
Edmund of Abingdon (also known as Edmund Rich, St Edmund of Canterbury, Edmund of Pontigny, French: St Edme; c. 11741240) was an English-born prelate who served as Archbishop of Canterbury. He became a respected lecturer in mathematics, dial ...
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
Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...
. A tower was added and the chancel rebuilt in the 15th century.
Parish
The church became a parish church in 1372, when the parish of St Nicholas was carved out of the parish of
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 ...
. The new parish consisted of scattered pieces of land at Fitzharris, Northcourt and
Bayworth
Bayworth is a hamlet in the civil parish of Sunningwell about south of Oxford. Bayworth was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.
Toponym
Bayworth's toponym has evolved from ''Baegenweorthe'' in t ...
, which were
grange
Grange may refer to:
Buildings
* Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906
* Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682
* Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery
Geography Australia
* Grange, South Austral ...
s of the Abbey, as well as a mill on the
River Ock
The River Ock is a small English river which is a tributary of the River Thames. It has as its catchment area the Vale of White Horse, a low-lying and wide valley in south Oxfordshire, and flows into the River Thames, at Abingdon on the reach ...
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
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
and the sacking of the Abbey in 1327. The two parishes were reunited in 1989 to form the single
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...
of Abingdon.
For civil purposes the parish joined Abingdon St Helen's to form the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of Abingdon in 1894.
Vision of Britain website
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
St. Nicolas's Church, Abingdon
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abingdon, Saint Nicholas's Church
Church of England church buildings in Oxfordshire
Diocese of Oxford
Saint Nicholas's Church
History of Berkshire
Abingdon, St Nicolas