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HER 8959 - CHURCH OF ST NICHOLAS, Lower Road, Bookham

Parish church. 11th century nave; 12th century west tower completed in 16th century or 17th century; early 12th century south aisle mostly rebuilt in 15th century and its 2-storey south porch then integrated with it; later 12th century north aisle rebuilt in 19th century; chancel dated 1341. Mostly knapped flint, incorporating some Roman tiles and squared limestone, with 3-span roofs of red tiles and stone slates; upper stage of tower weather-boarded, and spire clad with shingles. The square west tower of 2 low stages has stout angle-buttresses faced with brick, a gabled stair-turret at the north-east corner; a restored Tudor-arched west doorway and 2-light west window, a stone slate roof to the 1st stage, the weather-boarded upper stage breaking through this, with 3 horizontal louvres in each side (and a clock-face below that on the south side), and a splay-footed spire with weathervane. Next to the tower on the south side is one bay of the early 12th century south aisle, now gabled, with a lancet in its west side and a 19th century window of 2 cusped lights in its south side, and attached to the right of this a half-gable which was formerly the staircase to the former 2- storey porch. The 4-bay south aisle (the 4th bay overlapping the chancel) has a 2-centred arched doorway in the 1st bay protected by a small 19th century gabled porch, and three 15th century 3-light windows with cusped lights, cavetto-moulded surrounds, and depressed arched heads with hoodmoulds; at the west end, one segmental-headed window at ground floor and another at 1st floor level, each with 2 recessed cusped lights and moulded surround; and at the east end a large 2-centred arched 5-light window with restored Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould. The chancel, which is mostly of squared limestone, has two 14th century 2-light windows with cusped tracery, and a 2-centred arched 3-light east window with reticulated tracery (restored in sandstone), all with hoodmoulds. On the north side the 1st bay of the nave has a blocked 2-centred arch of a former aisle arcade, with an inserted window, and the 19th century aisle begins in the 2nd bay. Interior: 4-bay aisle arcades: the early 12th century south arcade has simple semicircular arches on cylindrical piers with scalloped caps and square abaci; the later 12th century north arcade has chamfered 2-centred arches on octagonal columns with scalloped caps (but the 1st bay blocked), and in the wall above the 1st and 3rd columns are small round-headed 11th century windows with deeply splayed reveals, the 2nd of these with remains of medieval painting (which continues over the wall to the left). The remaining west bay of the original very narrow south aisle has a deeply-splayed west window; the corner between this and the enlarged south aisle has a blocked 2-centred arched doorway at ground floor, and another at 1st floor of the return side (formerly access to 1st floor of porch); the south aisle has chamfered beams (one with cusped diagonal bracing above), and brattished wallplates, and the chapel in its east bay has a fine cusped and ogee-headed piscina. The nave and chancel have wagon roofs. The tower has a double-chamfered 2-centred arch, and contains a massive braced timber frame supporting the belfry. The south side of the chancel has a large 2-centred arch to the chapel with shafts and 2 orders of moulding, the north side has 14th century cusped windows of 1, 2, and 2 lights (first 2 blocked), and the east end has a stone tablet with inscription in Lombardic script recording the rebuilding of the chancel by John de Rutherwyke in 1341. 12th century font with corner colonettes. Stained glass in east window, said to be 15th century Flemish, from Costessy Hall in Norfolk. Numerous fine monuments, including: brasses on or close to the south pier of the chancel arch (John Barndale, 1481; Henry and Elizabeth Slyfield, 1598, with their ten children on a plaque below; Edmond Slyfield, 1590; Robert Shiers, 1668); in the north aisle, busts of Robert Shiers (1668), Elizabeth his wife (1700) and George Shiers (1685), in a large open-pedimented aedicule with much fine carving; Col. Thomas Moore of Polesden (1735), as a reclining figure in Roman military uniform, with trophies above (by Thomas Carter sen.); and William Moore (1746), a relief on an obelisk, with weeping putti; at the west end of the north aisle, a pedimented aedicule dated 1744 commemorating various members of the Howard family of Effingham; in the south aisle, Cornet Francis Geary (killed in the American War of Independence, in 1776), with Britannia weeping over a bust and a relief depiction of the action; beneath this, a very long rectangular brass plate commemorating Lord Raglan (d.1855 at Sebastopol); and in the chancel, Elizabeth Andrews (1816), a Gothic tablet under a weeping willow in semi-relief which rises to the top of the wall. Listing NGR: TQ1350454660

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