OS grid reference SU994492 Denomination Church of England Opened 1876 | Country England Churchmanship High Church Phone +44 1483 564526 | |
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Location Bury Street, Guildford, Surrey Website www.stnicolas-guildford.org.uk Address Bury St, Guildford GU2 4AW, UK Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Architects Ewan Christian, Samuel Sanders Teulon Similar Holy Trinity Church - Guildford, St Mary's Church - Guildford, Old St Peter and St Paul's, Tongham railway station, Ockham Park Profiles | ||
St Nicolas' is an Anglican parish church in Guildford, England.
Contents
Location
The church is on the left bank of the River Wey. It is next to non-motor vehicle Friary Bridge, the only such bridge of the town centre. It is directly beyond the foot of High Street, Guildford. It is one of the three ancient parishes of the town. The other two have combined in their ministry, Holy Trinity and St Mary’s, on the right bank of the river which had the majority of the townsfolk until the 20th century when the two sides of the river became more equal.
Parish
The parish extends to the north where it takes in the railway station and other streets to the east side of Bray Road and Ridgemount which are toward the Cathedral, all on the same bank of the river. It extends on the same bank to the south as far as the edge of the town of Godalming, to include Loseley Park. The southern manor: Artington has a listed early medieval ruined church with low crumbling walls on a hillside near the River Wey surviving. It is the only set of ruins church/chapel walls in the borough. The former owners the Loseley family have a Victorian wing (chapel) on the south side.
Hymn and carol writers and composers
John Mason Neale wrote and/or composed: Good King Wenceslas, O happy band of pilgrims: Deacon (junior clergy).
John Samuel Bewley Monsell wrote and/or composed Fight the good fight and O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Rector (parish priest).
Secular works
Comical and narrative book writer P.G. Wodehouse was baptised with the waters of the font.
Son of the rector John Manship (1612-1689) 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-cut, bi-colour stone tower with quoining, its internal arches, pillars and its many decorative apertures by Teulon and Ewan Christian (see right).
The west end has a straight gable end excepting tall, shallow outside buttresses in light-stone relief. It has matching pointed arch windows consisting of tall close lancet lights and a small roundel above. A five-light trefoil window is above. The church is built from the south and west Surrey yellow ironstone-sandstone (Bargate stone) with 10 consecutive round windows, grouped in pairs, towards the simple string course 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.