St Nicholas of Myra

The Norman church of St Nicholas of Myra of Myra, is included in Simon Jenkin’s book ‘England’s Thousand Best Churches’.

Few churches have such an uncompromisingly Norman look than St Nicholas. The walls are fortress like and barely penetrated by windows. The dominant chancel arch has two distinctive courses of characteristic zig zag moulding. High Gothic is represented only by the east window. Parts of the church are early Norman. The nave, chancel and west tower, date from around AD1100.

Little has changed since that time. Some early English lancets were installed in the chancel and the east window is 14th century. The external walls are topped that most evocative of Norman features, the corbel table. The south door is Norman with a tympanum depicting the Coronation of the Virgin. This non-biblical trope became fashionable only at the end of the 12th century, so it is clearly later than the rest of the fabric. The Early English lancets in the chancel are early example of this style and are possibly of the same date as the doorway. There is a triangular headed doorway just to the east of this doorway.