St Nicholas Newnham

Its open! Says it is open 24 hours and I got go inside and have a lovely look around at the beautiful wooden ceiling. It is a 12th century church in a village setting. It is the largest of the five churches in the United Parish and is popular for weddings, with a peal of bells - recently augmented and rehung - and a large dedicated team of flowers arrangers. There is no record of whether or not the present church was preceded by an earlier building. However, if the new settlement was established before - say - 800 or 900 AD the author suggests it was probable that a Saxon church already existed. Without appropriate excavation this can only remain speculation. The first reference, as noted above, is in a Charter of Henry de Port to the Priory of West Sherborne, now Monk Sherborne, dated about 1130; in this he provided income for the priory to enable the monks to support the village's church. This charter gives no dedication for the church, but it seems probable that from 1130 it was identified with St. Nicholas. Certainly it has been St. Nicholas for generations e.g. the will of Thomas Fielder, dated 1540, requests burial in the Church of Seynt Nicholas of Newnham. Perhaps it was named for St. Nicholas at the suggestion of Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, 1129-1171 there is some evidence that the bishop felt a duty to St. Nicholas who was inter alia the patron saint of seafarers. The chancel arch, which stands where it has done for centuries, is in the Norman style with dog-tooth decoration typical of its period and has been dated to about 1125. Thus the charter already mentioned would seem to coincide with the building of the church. Over the subsequent centuries there is no written information about how the church may have been modified; the ground plan may not have changed at all but assuming the first windows were small Norman apertures it seems some were altered at an early stage to meet the evolving fashions No toilet though
Feb 12th, 2023

Aug 13th, 2020

Jun 9th, 2020

Jan 22nd, 2020