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 ...
in
Abingdon in the English county of
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
(formerly within
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
).
History
The church was added to the gateway of the already-existing
Benedictine
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
Abbey of Saint Mary around the year 1170, although the oldest remaining piece is reportedly from 1180.
While the
monk
A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...
s used the abbey church, St Nicolas's was built for their lay servants and tenants. The
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
propagated the cult of
Saint 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 ...
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. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...
s in 1177 by
Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), 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 Papal election, ...
. Saint
Edmund of Abingdon revered 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 an independent day and boarding school in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. It is the List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, twentieth oldest Independent School (UK), independent British school. In May 202 ...
. 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. The new parish consisted of scattered pieces of land at Fitzharris, Northcourt and
Bayworth, which were
grange
Grange may refer to:
Buildings
* Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906
* Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682
* The Grange (Toronto), Toronto, Ontario, built in 1817
* Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to ...
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 reac ...
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 was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...
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 pries ...
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
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