Saint Nicholas Church is a

grade I 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 ...

located in Hardwicke, Gloucestershire. It practices

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

through 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 Britai ...

denomination. St Nicholas Church, Hardwicke

The church is a stone building of the early English and late perpendicular style. It consists of a

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. Ov ...

, a

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 ...

, a south facing porch and a wastern tower housing the six church bells and a clock on the western wall. Inside of the church are several monuments of the Trye family. It has a stained glass window on the east-side which is a memorial to Mr and Mrs Fenwick. There are three windows on the west-side one of which is a memorial to Thomas Barwick Lloyd Baker.

History

Hardwicke church was initially a chapel built in 1092, however this may have been built on the foundations of an Anglo-Saxon church. The church is classified as Norman in heritage. The walls of the chancel, common, nave and south aisle were rebuilt in the early thirteenth century. The great altar was consecrated in 1350 by the Bishop of Worcester. Bermondsey Priory sold the church in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. The west tower with internal stairs and gargoyles up the parapet and a porch were built in the early fourteenth century. In the late fourteenth century the rood loft and three windows on the west-side and one on the east-side were added. In the fifteenth century, the south chapel was built and two

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 ring ...

-headed lights were added on the south-side of the chancel arch. A house was built on the south-side of the churchyard around 1680, It was initially a timber-framed building with a thatched roof, However it has been rebuilt and is now privately owned. The church was named St Nicholas in the late eighteenth century but was previously called St Marys. In 1703, the church had four bells and two more bells were added in 1819 and another in 1896. The church was restored in the 1840s when the nave arcade was replaced and the east end of the chancel was rebuilt incorporating the fourteenth century window. Another more comprehensive restoration and enlargement was carried out in 1878 by Waller and Son of Gloucester. This restoration included the building of the north aisle with a chapel at its east end to house a new organ. At this time, the galleries were also removed and the porch was moved from the north to the south doorway. In 1921, the

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

to the churchyard was opened as a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

memorial. In 1927, The tower was restored, and six of the seven bells were kept and rehung. In 1938, The organ was moved from the north chapel to the west end of the north aisle and given a new case.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardwicke, Saint Nicholas Church of England church buildings in Gloucestershire 1092 establishments in England Churches completed in 1092 English churches with Norman architecture Diocese of Gloucester Grade I listed churches in Gloucestershire 11th-century church buildings in England