Team Vicar:
The Revd Peter Doll
39 The Motte
ABINGDON
OX14 3NZ
Tel: 01235 520297
Team Rector:
The Revd Charles Miller,
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Team Vicar:
Team Rector:
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St Nicholas is an ancient parish church, which is open to change but also values the traditional. As a result there is a careful balance between the use of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the newer Common Worship services. The formal services of Holy Communion and Morning Prayer are complemented by a flourishing Junior Church and by less formal Family Services.
St Nicholas' aims to be open whenever possible during the day, and many people avail themselves of the opportunity for private prayer, quiet, and rest. Refreshments are served when there are town centre events, such as the Farmers Market and the Christmas shopping evening, providing further opportunities for contact with a wider public.
| 1st Sunday in the Month | 8:00am | Holy Communion (CW) |
| 11:00am | Morning Prayer | |
| 2nd Sunday in the Month | 8:00am | Holy Communion (BCP) |
| 11:00am | Family Communion with Junior Church | |
| 3rd Sunday in the Month | 8:00am | Holy Communion (CW) |
| 11:00am | Family Service | |
| 4th Sunday in the Month | 8:00am | Holy Communion (BCP) |
| 11:00am | Family Communion with Junior Church |
The 11am Family Communion services on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month use the new Common Worship and are fairly traditional in style and format, whilst the 11am Morning Prayer on the 1st Sunday of the month uses the Shorter Prayer Book (St Nicolas is the only Anglican church in the town which continues with Mattins). Music at these services is generally traditional in character and led by organ and choir.
There is also a short service of Morning prayer at 10.00am on Friday mornings, and a monthly Communion Service at Old Station House.
Up to date information on services and other events may be found here.
We would like young people of any age to feel at home in St. Nicholas' Church, so we've arranged services that are relaxed and easy to follow - and we really don't mind if young children want to wander around or if they make a noise.
Crèche facilities for babies and toddlers are available in the Tower Room (stairs from the back of the church) during every service, where they can listen to the Service whilst the children play. Alternatively please ask one of the Sidesmen for a Children's Bag, to help you entertain your child in the pew.
The 11am Family Worship on the 3rd Sunday is adapted with families and children particularly in mind. Young people of any age can feel at home, and the services are relaxed and easy to follow - it doesn’t matter if children want to wander around or make a noise
Many parents these days are concerned not only for their children's wellbeing and education but also about what values they will have when they grow up. We hope that by exploring Christianity with us, children will discover for themselves a faith to live by, and lasting values.
Children are welcome to join Junior Church at age 3 (parents can stay with younger children). Families start together in church and during the service the children will leave with their leaders for a session in their individual groups. Normally we return in time for the children to receive a blessing during Communion (either with their families or with Junior Church). Exceptionally children remain in Junior Church until the end of the service, when they will return to church.
The church consists of a single nave and chancel with a small western tower projecting into the nave. Except for the four Early English windows (two on the north wall and two on the south) and a Decorated window over the font, the building is Perpendicular in style. The medieval glass was destroyed by the parliamentary forces in 1644 during the civil War.
The Norman west front includes a round-headed doorway in the centre of an arcade formerly containing stone seats known 'penniless benches'. Originally there were five lancet windows in the second storey of the tower, but four were cut away to make room for a larger Perpendicular window. A tablet by the south arcade commemorates St. Edmund of Abingdon, who was contemporary with the earliest parts of the church. Inside the porch is a rare stone lantern, with a stone funnel.
The church is unusual in that the nave crosses the course of the River Stert. This river, which now flows in a culvert under Stert Street, marked the western boundary of the Parish of St. Nicolas', and so the tower and part of the nave were outside the parish. An arch over the river can be seen in the north wall from outside, and the water can be heard through a grating in the road on the south side.
On the north wall, halfway up the nave, is a stone cross uncovered during the 1881 restoration from beneath a layer of plaster. The figure of Christ which it once bore was probably removed during the civil War. Above the cross, to the left, is the attractive monument to Walter Dayrell, the first regularly appointed Recorder of the Borough.
Further east, is a quasi-transept containing the tomb of John Blacknall, a fine monument dating from 1684. John Blacknall was the grandson of the purchaser of the Abbey after its dissolution, and by his will he augmented the funds for supporting the readers at St. Nicolas' as well as providing for a weekly distribution of bread to the poor.
The pulpit, on the south wall of the nave, is Jacobean but has lost two storeys of its height. Behind is a small Early English window, partly blocked when the Abbey Gateway was rebuilt in the 15th century.
In the Chancel is a tablet on the south wall which was erected in memory of Richard Bowles, rector from 1775 to his death in 1804 who left £2,000 for a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, to preach a sermon every Sunday. He also provided the glass for the east window which depicts St. Nicolas with the pickled children he is reputed to have rescued.
On the south wall of the clergy vestry is a fragment of an early reredos found under the panelling during the 1881 restoration. It depicts the Virgin Mary and St. John on either side and St. Nicolas in Bishop's vestments.
When the chancel was rebuilt after the fire of 1953 the Arms of Abingdon Abbey and of Trinity College, Oxford, were placed on the ends of the hammer beams together with those of four benefactors - Peter Heylin, a Sub Dean of Westminster Abbey who died in 1661, and largely due to whose efforts the Church was not demolished during the Commonwealth, Walter Dayrell who died in 1628, John Blacknall, and John Roysse who died in 1571.
The organ, built by Nicholson, dates from after the fire in 1953. The bells contain members of a peal of six cast by Abel Rundal of Gloucester in 1741.
To celebrate the millennium, and their own 20th Anniversary in the Autumn of 2000, the Thames Craft Guild devised the embroideries which hang on the stone pillars on either side of the West door inside St Nicolas Church. These Millennium Embroideries consist of two separate hangings, one of which tells the history of Christianity and St Nicolas Church, whilst the other runs on a parallel time scale but tells the history of the town of Abingdon.
The Design Process
At a meeting in the church with the Minister and representatives of the congregation in July 1997, the stone pillars either side of the West door were identified as a suitable site for a pair of embroidered hangings. A group of volunteers from within the Thames Craft Guild met many times to discuss ideas for the designs. Local historians and embroidery experts were consulted and embroideries in other Churches were visited.
Suellen Pedley, a professional ecclesiastical embroidery designer was commissioned to produce the designs for the hangings. Discussions with members of the congregation revealed that an exhibition had been held in St Nicolas Church in the autumn of 1995 entitled "The Abbey, the Church and the Town". It was decided to base the designs on that exhibition.
The Sacred Hanging shows the history of Christianity and the Church of St Nicolas, Abingdon and the Secular Hanging shows the parallel history of the town of Abingdon.
The Construction Techniques
It was intended that as many techniques as possible should be used, so the embroideries actually include appliqué, hand embroidery, machine embroidery, canvaswork, drawn thread embroidery, cross stitch, lacemaking and tatting. The materials for each picture were assembled into a pack with instructions for working the picture. The main features of each picture were appliquéd to the background fabric and most of the surface embroidery worked. The panels were then assembled onto a quilting frame before the cord was couched onto each panel. Finally the lace was applied before the completed hangings were stretched over the mounting board ready for framing.
There is a booklet which illustrates and describes the embroideries in detail. Copies of this are available in the church, priced £2.50. Copies of the booklet may also be obtained from Masons Embroidery Shop, Bath Street, Abingdon. For more information about the booklet, please contact Andrew Colborne, Sales Coordinator, or for further information on the embroideries please contact Marion Ellis, project co-ordinator and past Chairman of Thames Craft Guild.
St. Nicolas' and Abingdon Abbey
St. Nicolas' church is one of the few remaining parts of the great Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary at Abingdon, and was the final part of the rebuilding, of the abbey in the twelfth century, largely associated with Abbot Faritius (1100 - 1117) and his successor Abbot Vincent (1121 - 30). The rebuilding was completed towards the end of the century, and this small church was built by the gate, partly within and partly outside the abbey precincts for the numerous lay officials and servants attached to the abbey, and for visitors. The earliest reference to the church, or chapel, of St Nicholas is in a ruling by Pope Alexander III to the prior and brothers of Abingdon in 1177 that the yearly income from the chapel be assigned to the care of the poor.
The original church had no tower and the only parts of it now remaining are the lower part of the west wall with its magnificent Norman doorway, and the north wall of the nave. The church is on a constricted site and when, in the fifteenth century, a tower was added it had to be built inside the nave. For the same reason there was no churchyard or burial ground until 1797. The Stert stream then, as now, passed under the nave.
Edmund of Abingdon
A chronicler of the thirteenth century recorded that St. Nicolas' church housed the tomb of Mabel 'le Rich', mother of Edmund Rich. Edmund and was born in Abingdon about 1175 became, first a master at Oxford, then Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury from 1233 to 1240. He was a firm and fearless Archbishop who opposed the corruption of the court of Henry III and died at Pontigny on the borders of Burgundy and Champagne on his way to present his problems to the Pope. His mother died about 1198 and was buried in St Nicolas', but after her son's canonization in 1247 her remains were transferred to a special chapel within the abbey precincts. A memorial tablet commemorating Edmund's links with the church and town was placed on the west front of the church in 1964.
Parish of St. Nicolas
In 1327 the Abbey was sacked, and St. Nicolas' burned by the people of the town, who resented the Abbey's dominance and its inability to pay its debts. The church was quickly restored, and the south wall dates from that time. The poverty of the church, caused by the sacking of the Abbey and the Black Death of 1349, led to petitions to the Bishop of Salisbury to regularize the income of the incumbent. As a result, in 1372, certain portions of the parish of St. Helen forming granges or farms belonging to the Abbey were taken to form a new parish of St. Nicolas'. As a separate parish, St Nicholas had its own registers and Churchwardens. It appointed overseers to administer civil responsibilities such as Poor Law and highway maintenance, until these duties were taken over by civil authorities in the 19th century. It had its own Parochial Church Council after these began in the 1920's.
The main portion of the parish was the abbey precinct itself, together with granges at Fitzharris, Northcourt and Bayworth, and the Ock Mill on the Marcham Road. These scattered pieces of land formed the parish of St. Nicolas' until the creation of a Team Ministry and the present single parish of Abingdon in 1989. The Bishop's award caused considerable bitterness since it reduced the income of St. Helen's, and the tension between the churches continued for many centuries.
Rectors and Vicars
Initially an incumbent, known from the earliest times as the Rector although possessing no tithe or glebe, was appointed by the Abbey. Later, as elsewhere, the post of Rector was often a sinecure; although he received the major part of the income, he appointed vicars to be responsible for services.
Despite the Bishop's award of 1372, the parish remained poor, and in 1410 the posts of Rector and Vicar of St. Nicolas' were combined and the Vicar, Henry Crumpe, became also Rector. However, the joining of the posts of Rector and Vicar was not to prove a permanent solution. By 1508 Thomas Randolph, who was a prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral, pleaded to be released from the spiritual cure which belonged to the Vicar, and to be left with simply the sinecure rectory. From then onwards the Vicar of St. Helen's, Henry Leshman, became Vicar of St. Nicolas' also, an arrangement which continued under his successors, although the sinecure Rector obtained the greater share of the income.
The Dissolution of the Abbey
The dissolution of the Abbey in 1538 had surprisingly little consequence for St. Nicolas', although the patronage rights of the church passed to the crown. The Abbey farms which formed the parish had already been leased to others, and the spiritual cure was in the hands of the Vicar of St. Helen's, though he probably hired curates to attend to the needs of St. Nicolas'. A number of endowments for masses for the dead were swept away in 1547.
The Blacknall Family
The Abbey site was bought in 1553 by William Blacknall, whose family were for the next three generations the most important inhabitants of the parish. The death of his grandson John and his wife "at one instant of time" in August 1625, perhaps of the plague, brought the line to an end, and the property passed to his daughter Mary who married Ralph Verney of Claydon, Buckinghamshire, in 1629. The Verney family gradually sold the abbey property but the memory of the Blacknall family lived on in Abingdon. The tomb now in the quasi-transept of the church was erected in about 1684 on the south wall, beside the pulpit, and was moved in the restoration of 1881. From the tomb a weekly distribution of bread to the less well-off was made under the terms of John Blacknall's will. Also under the will a Reader, already appointed to carry out the cure of souls which had been neglected by the Vicar of St. Helen's, was given an augmented income.
Links with Roysse's School
From the earliest years St. Nicolas' seems to have been associated with the grammar school which grew up outside the abbey gateway, and early incumbents may also have been Head-masters of the school. The school was refounded in 1563 by John Roysse, and from the restoration of Charles II in 1660 the Blacknall Readership was held by either the Head-master or the Usher of Roysse's school, continuing the link which had developed in the early years of the church. The Readership became dormant when the school moved to Park Crescent in 1870, and the office passed to the Vicar of St. Helen's. Since 1913 the Head-masters have been laymen rather than men in orders as in earlier centuries.
Civil War and Commonwealth
The clash between King and Parliament between 1640 and 1660 brought fighting to the streets of Abingdon and an intense conflict of loyalties to the town. In 1643, Anthony Huish, Head-master of Roysse's school, became Reader and continued the Church of England services Even after the capture of Abingdon by Parliamentary forces under General Waller in May 1644. A group of loyal Anglicans gathered round Huish, most notable among them being Peter Heylin the Royalist apologist who lived at Lacy's Court in the town. He supported the lengthy and ultimately successful attempts to prevent the church being united with St. Helen's. After Huish's retirement in 1655 the services were continued by Heylin and others until the Restoration of Charles II brought happier times to St. Nicolas', with the general restoration of Anglican worship.
Bowles Readership
The eighteenth century saw a continuation of the system by which sinecure Rectors played little part in the affairs of St. Nicolas', and the Vicars of St. Nicolas', who had pastoral charge of the parish, left the taking of services to the Blacknall Readers. This complicated system was bound to lead to trouble, and in 1796 the Vestry complained to the Bishop that the Reader, John Lempriere, was not fulfilling his obligations - preferring more lucrative employment as curate of Radley. The dispute led to the closure of the church from 1799 - 1801. Then William Smith, Usher of the school, became Reader on Lemprieres appointment as Vicar of St. Helens. The Rector at this period, Richard Bowles, lived in Abingdon at Waste Court, and showed considerable interest in the church. In 1790 he helped to purchase the small burial ground to the north of the church, and he presented the stained glass window of St. Nicolas now in the east window of the church. After the dispute of 1799 Bowles made yet another attempt to provide for the Sunday services of the church and founded a Readership by which a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford was to preach every Sunday morning. The Bowles Readership has often been delegated to deputies, but six times a year the Chaplain of Trinity college still preaches in this church.
Modern Times
In 1836 Berkshire was removed from the diocese of Salisbury, in which St. Nicolas' had always been, and transferred to the diocese of Oxford. In 1845 the sinecure rectory came to an end, and since then the Vicars of St. Helen's have been Rectors of St. Nicolas'. In 1881 the church was drastically restored and Blacknall's tomb transferred to the north side of the church, and in 1953 the chancel had largely to be rebuilt after a disastrous fire. Statutes of 1882 and 1894 brought to an end the civil parish of St. Nicolas', but the ecclesiastical parish remained as it was created in 1372 until 1992. The church continues to provide regular services and to work in close co-operation with the other churches of the town through the Council of Churches.
In January 1992 the two parishes of St Helen's and St Nicolas' were joined in a Team Ministry. The resulting Parish of Abingdon includes four churches - St Helen's, St Nicolas', St Michael's and Christchurch - which between them represent a wide range of churchmanship. These four churches work together under a Team Rector, but each have their own Church Wardens and Church Councils. At present, St Nicolas' and St Michael's share a Team Vicar.
In the second half of the 20th century, St Nicholas was at the forefront of the movement towards ecumenism in Abingdon, which eventually blossomed into the present Church in Abingdon, which brings together most Christian churches and denominations in the town. Christians of all denominations unite to work together whenever common action is possible, and to share in and be enriched by each other's traditions of prayer and worship.
The St Nicolas' Church Council have adopted the following Mission Statement -
"To worship God, to grow in faith and to share Jesus Christ with others."
To implement this mission, the church has the following aims -
We want to be a vibrant growing church - looking upward We aim under God to be a church committed to corporate and individual prayer, encountering God in excellent worship, growing together towards maturity in Christ as we feed on the word of God. We seek to know and worship God through Christ in the power of the holy Spirit so that in every part of our lives we encounter His presence and glory We seek to live in obedience to God's word, learning to submit to scripture with integrity in all our decisions We seek to depend on the Holy Spirit and prayer, recognising that no effective work is done without complete dependence on the Holy Spirit, and committed corporate and individual prayer. We want to be a vibrant growing church - looking inward We aim under God to be a church family where God's love is shared as we care for ,love, support and value each other. In that family we aim to develop every member's gifts equipping and resourcing the body of Christ for ministry. We seek to relate to each other in the grace of Christ, governing our relationships and attitudes to each other in the church with grace, integrity and love from God. We seek to value all people as potential brothers and sisters in Christ, and all members of the body of Christ as actual brothers and sisters in Christ ,to whom we are accountable, each one having a gift from God that is vital for our life together in the body of Christ. We seek to minister as servants , accepting sacrifice as fundamental to a Christ-like servant ministry and acknowledging that suffering and simple trust are integral to walking the way of the cross. We want to be a vibrant growing church - looking outward We aim under God to be a church which shares the gospel openly and effectively, with a programme which proclaims Christ byword and action both locally and further afield. We seek to value the poor , sharing the gospel of the love of God in truth and with action combining an open-handedness to the poor and needy and to those without Christ with a simplicity of lifestyle. We seek to share the gospel of the love of God with those who are without Christ who live locally: at the same time recognising that God's work at St. Nicolas' is only part of God's work world-wide and seeking humbly to learn from and be informed , supportive and prayerful concerning mission in other parts of the world.
A printed monthly Newsletter "News from St Nicolas'" is available in church.
Page last modified 24 Feb 2007