St Nicholas
Dereham
Norfolk
640/2/1B CHURCH STREET 20-AUG-51 (North side) CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS I The church is pre-Conquest in origin, but the earliest visible fabric is C12 (SW door, spiral shafts by the chancel arch and parts of the S transept arch).
Architectural Features
Chancel, N transept arch, and arcades C13.
Central tower rebuilt and moved one bay W, transepts built, nave and arcades lengthened one bay to the W in the C14.
S aisle refenestrated, transepts enlarged, roofs rebuilt, clerestory added late C15.
S porch c.1500.
Detached bell tower built c.1515-25.
Central tower reduced in height 1539.
The NE chapel, adjacent to the chancel, was demolished in 1565.
The low crossing tower, reduced in height in 1539, is made more prominent by the lack of parapets except on the SE transeptal chapel and the steeply pitched roofs of the nave and chancel.
It has pairs of C14 two-light windows with flowing ogee tracery.
There are two C13 two-light windows plate tracery quatrefoils and an Early English style windows with three stepped lights in the S wall.
C13 chancel S door, the door of 1862 with iron work by Gidney¿s.
Above this is a C14 window with cusped, reticulated tracery in a square frame, and there is a similar high level window in the E wall.
The SE transeptal chapel has a rich embattled parapet with carved quatrefoils and windows like those in the S transept, Perpendicular below, Decorated above.
There is a high level blocked opening, probably for a C14 window, in the SE chapel E wall.
The S aisle has large windows of c.1464-6 with embattled transoms and vertical tracery.
The S door is mid C12, reset, and has two orders of shafts and a cusped, trefoil head similar to the Prior¿s door at Ely.
The nave W window is early C14 and has cusped Y-tracery.
Below it the C14 W door with continuous chamfers is flanked by two ogee-headed niches.
The N aisle has large, C14 windows with flowing, Decorated tracery and a N door with a pointed head in a square frame.
The N transept has a high level C14 N window similar to those in the N aisle
below it is a large C15 window with vertical tracery and sub-transoms.
The inside is largely C13
C14, with some reworking in the later middle ages, with the chapel ceilings being particularly notable.
The lower part of the responds for the arch to the SE transeptal chapel are C12
the arch to the NE chapel is early C13 and have keeled shafts on moulded corbels with twisted ends.
The chancel windows have chamfered rere-arches, and there is a C13 string course that rises over the S priest's door and N vestry door.
The sedilia, piscina and aumbry are good C13 work.
The massive crossing arches are C14 and have polygonal responds for the inner orders and continuous outer orders.
The lantern tower has a C14 gallery of pointed, chamfered arches with polygonal moulded capitals on quatrefoil shafts.
The S arcade is early C13
has round piers with moulded capitals except for the first pier from the west, which is polygonal and has C14 polygonal moulded capitals.
The N arcade is mid C13
has quatrefoil piers with quatrefoil, moulded capitals, again except for the last pier from the W, which is like that on the S. As the responds on each side match the eastern part of the arcades, it is likely that the nave was extended by one bay to the W in the C14 and the polygonal piers added then
the arcade arches on both sides, of two chamfered orders, were probably also rebuilt in the C14.
PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The most important fitting is the superb Seven Sacraments font, one of the very best in the country.
It is documented to 1468.
C13 trefoiled double piscina in the chancel, with dog tooth ornament, detached shafts and a hood mould with head stops.
C15 piscina in the S transept.
Notable C15 ceilings in the transeptal chapels, with flat cusped panels and painted decoration.
That on the S may be c.1430, and is probably associated with the raising of the chapel by William Boton to create a muniment room on the upper floor.
That on the N belongs to the chapel of Thomas Becket and is late C15, and has alternating eagles and crowns in wreaths.
The S aisle roof is late medieval and has plain, open, arched braces
Gothic-style reredos of 1857, painted with figures of saints in 1929.
An interesting rood screen of 1921 (a war memorial) in a free art and crafts gothic style, with a carved rood group and demi-figures of angels.
Some good C19 and early C20 glass, including the chancel NE and SE windows by Wailes of 1857, the S transept of 1847 by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and also by them the E window of 1904 and the N transept window of 1905.
The Cowper memorial window of 1900 in the NE chapel is also very fine.
An impressive collection of monuments, the most notable of which is to the poet William Cowper, d. 1800, by Flaxman in the N transept, a palm branch draped across a bible, and above it a memorial window of 1900.
The church and associated nunnery were destroyed by the Danes c.870.
The earliest visible fabric in the present church is C12, and it is unclear if it was newly rebuilt at that date or constructed around an older church.
The church was greatly rebuilt in the C13, when the nave arcades were added,
again in the C14.
The church was extensively refurbished and refurnished in the later C15.
The work on the S aisle windows is documented to 1464-6.
The S porch was added c.1500 and paid for by Roger and Margaret Boton.
Detached bell tower built c.1515-25.
Central tower reduced in height 1539.
The NE chapel and St Edmund¿s Chapel to its E were demolished in 1565.
The rood screen was installed in 1921 as a memorial for WWI.
The Oxburgh screen of c.1480 at the entrance to the S transept Lady chapel was brought from Oxburgh church in 1949, following the collapse of the spire there and the subsequent demolition of the nave.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Nicholas, Dereham is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * Outstanding parish church of the C12
later, with excellent work of the C13, C14
C15. * Superb Seven Sacraments font, securely dated to 1468. * C15 brass eagle lectern. * Excellent late C15 painted ceilings. * Monument to William Cowper, d. 1800, by Flaxman, with associated window. * For its later fittings, including the rood screen and Cowper memorial window. * For its unusual relationship with the detached bell tower and sunken well. * For its complex fabric, containing clues to its growth and origins. * For its importance at the heart of the town of Dereham, possessing a very strong visual presence. * For the historic interest of its Anglo-Saxon foundation by a royal Saint.
This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online.