Description

ROCHESTER COLLEGE YARD
TQ 7468 NW
7/16 Parish Church of
St Nicholas
24.10.50
GV I
Former parish church now the diocesan offices. 1421-3 (dedicated
1423); much rebuilding (including the arcades) after a fire, re-
dededicated 1624, restored and refenestrated 1860-2. W end and
aisles partitioned in 1970s to form office space. Coursed rubble
ragstone; Kent tile roof. NW tower (originally detached to allow
for a processional way); nave with aisles, chancel with shallow
aisles; vestry to N of chancel. Exterior: W front (facing
College yard): NW tower: 3 stages; moulded W doorway with
hoodmould (now with fixed glazing); string-courses between all
stages, with 4 courses of flint/ragstone chequerboard decoration
to lower stage and a band of knapped flint to 1st, below string
courses; cusped lancet to 1st stage, similar belfry opening, both
square-headed under hood mould. Small light to SW stair.
Removed parapet. Vertical masonry joint clearly marks the
division between SW angle of tower and later wall connecting it
was N aisle. gabled W wall to nave with W doorway similar to
tower and C19 5-light Decorated window, framed by buttresses with
set-offs. Aisle with plan parapet that returns along S side.
C19 perpendicular and Decorated 3-light windows to S aisle with
C15 buttresses between. Chancel with many later accretions and
some brick patching; the rubble masonry here is random rubble and
presumably demotes later alterations (rather than earlier work)
which included the reduction of the aisles. C19 5-light e
window. Interior: 5-bay arcade rebuilt after 1624 with tall
Tuscan columns supporting equilateral pointed arches with
quadrant moulding. Chancel arch (on Tuscan half-columns) with
cyma mouldings. Plaster ceiling together with the coffered
chancel ceiling, late C18/early C19. Aisles divided from chancel
by cornice carrying a frieze of swags supported on panelled
pilasters, and with little fan vaults, all C.1800. Monuments:
2 small rural monuments with kneeling figures (Thomas Rocke,
d.1635 and signed by John and Matthias Christmas; George Wilson
d.1629). The Buildings of England volume mentions a good
monument by Sir Robert Taylor in S aisle (not inspected). W
Window: brightly coloured glass by Charles Gibbs. early C19
octagonal stone font.

Listing NGR: TQ7428468566

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Nicholas at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17533444

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)