Abingdon, St Nicolas Church

St Nicolas Church, Abingdon

St Nicolas Church, Abingdon, is a 12th-century church built by the Benedictine monks of Abingdon Abbey and one of the few abbey buildings still standing. It stood beside the abbey gateway and was known for many years as 'The Little Church by the Gate'.

History

The medieval abbey of Abingdon was one of the great monastic institutions of England. Sometime in the first few decades of the 12th century, Abbot Faritius embarked on an ambitious programme of rebuilding and expansion of the abbey, a process that took much of the century to complete.

The final phase of this rebuilding was to establish a church by the abbey gate to serve visitors and the large number of servants and lay people needed to keep the abbey running smoothly. On the other side of the abbey gate stood St John's Hospital.

St Edmund of Abingdon plaque

The new church, dedicated to St Nicolas (note the spelling), could be accessed from both outside and inside the abbey grounds. The church was built directly over the Stert watercourse, which still runs beneath the nave.

We do not know exactly when the church was built, but the first written record comes from 1177, when Pope Alexander III declared that all income from visitors to the chapel should be given to the poor.

The 12th-century church was much simpler than the building we see today, and had no tower. The only parts of that first church to survive include the north wall of the nave and the lowest section of the west wall, including the wonderful medieval doorway.

The Jacobean pulpit

The Abingdon Riots

Tensions between the abbey and the townsfolk of Abingdon came to a head in 1327, when rioting broke out and the abbey was attacked on three separate occasions. On one of these attacks, St Nicolas' Church was burned and badly damaged. The south wall dates to the church rebuilding after the damage caused by rioters.

The church's situation partly in and partly out of the abbey meant that possibilities for expansion were very limited, so when a tower was added in the 15th century it had to be built over the nave.

The church did not originally have a burial ground due to its restricted footprint, but this changed in the late 18th century when the rectory and its garden were destroyed to make room.

The church was heavily restored in 1880 when earlier box pews and a gallery were removed.

St Nicholas of Myra stained glass window

The abbey had the right to appoint church rectors and grant them an allowance for food and ale. When the abbey was suppressed by Henry VIII, the Crown took over as church patron and paid the rector directly. Rectors probably also served as headmasters for the nearby grammar school, established in medieval times and re-founded in 1563 by John Roysse.

What to See

The church exterior is surprisingly intact, with the only expansion to the 12th-century building being the tower and the Blacknall Aisle to the north.

The beautifully-carved pulpit was given to the church in 1628. The striking stained-glass panel in the east window shows St Nicholas of Myra restoring to life three boys who had been murdered. The window was crafted by Thomas Willement, one of the foremost Victorian stained-glass artists.

The Blacknall memorial (1624)

The Blacknall Memorial

The former Abingdon Abbey site was purchased by William Blacknall in 1553 and for over a century the Blacknalls were closely linked to St Nicolas' Church. In 1625, John Blacknall and his wife, Jane, died on the same day, perhaps of the plague. Their ornately decorated memorial was erected six decades later.

In his will, John Blacknall left money for two dozen loaves of bread, to be given to twelve poor people of the parish every Sunday. The bread was placed on the Blacknall tomb, which is by far the most interesting memorial in the church. The distribution of bread has stopped, but the charity established by John Blacknall still provides support to the church and to the needy of the parish.

The memorial shows John and Jane kneeling, facing each other across a prayer desk in typical 17th-century style, while their two daughters kneel behind Jane. Curiously, the memorial inscription mentions only one daughter.

See if you can decipher the cryptic verse inscribed on the memorial!

Historical Treasures

Near the west door is a stone niche that once served as a lantern. It would have originally held a candle or oil lamp.

Another historical treasure inside the church is a medieval stone panel discovered hidden behind wooden panelling over the high altar. The carved panel depicts the Crucifixion, with St john and St Mary flanking Christ on the cross.

The church is full of interesting historical monuments including an ornate wall tablet to Thomas Woods (d. 1753). Woods served as the headmaster of Abingdon School for 37 years. His Latin epitaph tells us that he was:

An excellent schoolmaster and therefore an excellent citizen.
For 37 years Headmaster of Abingdon School,
And beyond measure prodigal of his strength,
He spent himself wholly upon the welfare of his pupils ...

Mary Child memorial, 1782

One poignant wall monument remembers Mary Child, who died in 1782 at the age of just 24 'having survived her newly born Son but a very Short space of time.'

She left behind her two infant Daughters,
Whose early Sense of their Mother's virtuous
Example may hereafter raise them up
To a resemblance of her
Her Husband in token of his affection
Dedicates to her treasured memory
This Marble Tablet.

St Edmund of Abingdon

Look for a plaque fixed to the south-west buttress. This commemorates St Edmund of Abingdon (also known as St Edme), who was born in Abingdon sometime around 1175. St Edmund, born Edmund Rich, was the first recorded Doctor of Divinity at Oxford University and became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1233. It seems a certainty that Edmund worshipped here at St Nicolas' Church as a child.

Edmund was an ardent critic of what he saw as the corruption at the court of King Henry III. He died while travelling to Rome to meet with the Pope and was buried at Pontigny, in what is now France.

St Edmund's mother, Mabel, was buried at St Nicolas' Church around 1198. When Edmund was canonised in 1247, his mother's remains were dug up and reburied in a newly-built chapel within the abbey grounds.

Dairell heraldic boss

Heraldic Bosses

St Nicolas' Church was damaged by fire in 1953. When the chancel roof was rebuilt, the hammer beams were decorated with heraldic carvings. The coats of arms represent people and institutions associated with the church over the centuries.

One coat of arms represents Abingdon Abbey, while another is that of Trinity College, which provides the Richard Bowles Fellow to preach at the church. Then there is the crest of Peter Heylin (d. 1661), who saved the church from destruction during Cromwell's Commonwealth. Another coat of arms represents Walter Dairell (d. 1625), whose memorial is on the north wall of the nave.

The fifth crest shows the arms of John Blacknall (d. 1625), whose bequest still provides the church with an income after four centuries. The final crest is that of John Roysse (d. 1571), who re-founded Abingdon school in what is now the Roysse Room.

St Nicolas' Church is much more than a medieval building; it is part of an extraordinary collection of historical buildings on the site of Abingdon Abbey and is well worth seeing.

Visiting

There are signposted parking areas around the town centre and a large car park just over the river, off Bridge Street. The church is usually open daylight hours and was open when we visited.