St Nicolas' is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

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 pries ...

church in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Location and parish

Location

St Nicolas’ church (spelt ‘Nicholas’ until the early 20th century) is on the left bank of the

River Wey The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton, Hampshire, Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Onc ...

, at the bottom of Guildford High Street, which extends across the river via the now pedestrianised Town Bridge. The present church, consecrated in 1876, is the third church on the site. It is one of the three ancient parish churches of the town. The other two have combined in their ministry,

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

and St Mary's, on the east side of the river, which had the majority of the townsfolk until the 20th century when the town expanded westwards across the river.

Parish

The parish is one of the three ancient parishes of Guildford borough, together with

and St Mary's,. Those parishes lie on the east bank of the river, but the ancient borough extended across the river to include the westernmost part of the much larger St Nicolas’ parish. The ancient parish was c. 2600 acres, with the easternmost section historically incorporated into Guildford borough, but with a large rural hinterland extending west into

Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...

A Hundred and including the tithings of

Artington Artington is a Hamlet and civil parish in the borough of Guildford, Surrey, England. It covers the area from the southern edge of the built-up centre of Guildford and steep Guildown, the start of the Hog's Back and part of the North Downs AONB, ...

and Littleton. During the last century, the creation of the new parishes of All Saints in Onslow Village and St Francis Littleton have reduced the size of St Nicolas’ parish. The parish includes Loseley, the home of the More (later More-Molyneux) family since 1509, whose memorial chapel, dating from c. 1550, is attached to the south side of St Nicolas’ church. Also within the parish on St Catherine's Hill is the ruined Grade 1 listed St Catherine’s Chapel dating c. 1300, an enigmatic building with royal and pilgrimage connections.Church of England Guildford postcode GU2 4JX and rest of parish map
Parish Finder. Accessed 18 April 2015.

Literary connections

Hymn and carol writers and composers

John Mason Neale John Mason Neale (24 January 1818 – 6 August 1866) was an English Anglican priest, scholar, and hymnwriter. He worked on and wrote a wide range of holy Christian texts, including obscure medieval hymns, both Western and Eastern. Among his mo ...

wrote and/or composed: ''

Good King Wenceslas "Good King Wenceslas" (Roud Folk Song Index, Roud number 24754) is a Christmas carol that tells a story of a tenth-century king of Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic) who goes on a journey, braving harsh winter weather, to give alms to a poor pe ...

'', ''O happy band of pilgrims'':

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

(junior clergy).

John Samuel Bewley Monsell John Samuel Bewley Monsell (2 March 1811 – 9 April 1875) was an Irish Anglican clergyman and poet. Life The son of Thomas Monsell, Thomas Bewley Monsell, Archdeacon of Derry, he was born in St Columb's, Derry, and educated at Trinity College, D ...

wrote and/or composed ''Fight the good fight'' and ''O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness'': Rector (parish priest).

Secular works

Writer

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

was baptised with the waters of the

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

. Son of the rector John Manship (1612-1689)Venn. Alumni Oxonienses; the Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714; Their Parentage, Birthplace, and Year of Birth, With a Record of Their Degrees at http://www.mocavo.com/ retrieved 25 October 2015 was Samuel Manship, a London publisher of theology and philosophy.

Architecture

The building is of cut stone and some mortar-infused rubblestone and is listed in the middle category of statutory listing, Grade II* chiefly for its

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

-cut, bi-colour stone tower with quoining, its internal arches, pillars and its many decorative apertures by Teulon and Ewan Christian. The west end has a straight gable end excepting tall, shallow outside buttresses in light-stone relief. It has matching

pointed arch A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown meet at an angle at the top of the arch. Also known as a two-centred arch, its form is derived from the intersection of two circles. This architectural element was partic ...

windows consisting of tall close lancet lights and a small roundel above. A five-light

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

window is above. The church is built from the south and west Surrey yellow ironstone-sandstone (

Bargate stone __NOTOC__ Bargate stone is a highly durable form of sandstone. It owes its yellow, butter or honey colouring to a high iron content. In some contexts it may be considered to be a form of ironstone. However, in the context of stone buildings local ...

) with 10 consecutive round windows, grouped in pairs, towards the simple

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

eave. Above immediately is guttering of equal height before the ascent of a long hipped slate roof surmounted by a simple yellow stone cross on the west end. Its north lower, long vestry and side aisle with west-facing main door is between the height of the main building culminating in a transept matching the width of the square porch tower to which it joins and running equally to the south where it forms the vestry. A square belfry tower with flagpole surmount the chancel in lighter stone than all but the northern additions. The north transept gable end is embellished by a large plate-tracery, three-light-plus-roundel window on a sill and under a hood moulding. The chancel itself, facing east, is apsidal (hemi-spherical as to the upper part and rounded as to the lower) with vaulting. It has a marble floor and mosaics.

References

External links

St. Nicolas Guildford website

St. Nicolas Guildford on A Church Near You
{{Guildford Buildings and structures in Guildford

Diocese of Guildford