St Nicholas's Church, Tresco, is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

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 t ...

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

, UK.

History

Originally two old cottages were used by the

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

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

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 ...

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 The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown De ...

. 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 (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 Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

is the same as the dedication of the medieval Tresco Abbey, the remains of which are in

Tresco Abbey Gardens Tresco Abbey Gardens are located on the island of Tresco, Isles of Scilly, Tresco in the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom. The gardens were established by the nineteenth-century proprietor of the islands, Augustus Smith (politician), Augustus S ...

. 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 plant, flowering succulent plant, succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Acc ...

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 (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

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, lychg ...

Organ

The pipe organ dates from 1886 and is by the builder Eustace Ingram. 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 Martin's Church, St Martin's St Martin's Church, St Martin's is a Grade II listed parish church in the Church of England located in St Martin's, Isles of Scilly, UK. History The Anglican church was built in 1683 by Thomas Ekin, the Godolphin Steward. Originally only long ...

* 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'' (195 ...

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