Old Church of St Nicholas
Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′ 13 " N , 2 ° 58 ′ 58" W.
The Old Church of St Nicholas is an Anglican church building in Uphill , Somerset , England that was constructed around the year 1080 but services have been held on the site before. The structure stands on a cliff above Brean Down and the mouth of the River Ax .
The church is partly in ruins . It consists of a tower, the chancel and the roofless nave . It was designed by English Heritage in the Grade II * classified , and is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust . The covered part of the building is still used occasionally for church services.
geography
The partially ruined church stands on the edge of Weston-super-Mare on a cliff on the south side of Uphill Cliff , the western end of which is a quarry.
The area is known for its species-rich grasslands. Steeper sections and crests of the grassland have a flora that includes Valais schiller grass ( Koeleria vallesiana ), blue-green fiber umbrella ( Trinia glauca ) and gold asters ( Crinitaria linosyris ). These meadows are the habitat of several species of butterflies and weevils (Curculionoidea).
The church overlooks Weston Bay , Brean Down and the mouth of the River Ax, which the Romans used as a port, presumably for the export of lead from the Mendip Hills . A nearby tower on top of a hill is what remains of an 18th century windmill.
History and architecture
The cliff below the church contains caves that show traces of human settlement since the Stone Age . These caves have since been broken away and the artifacts have been brought to the museum. During the Roman period , a Romano-British temple was built on the site . Some remains of it were found under the floor of the open nave. There are also traces of a wooden church that stood here in Anglo-Saxon times around 700 AD , and the harbor in Uphill may have been a center for pilgrims on their way to Glastonbury Abbey . The church then came under the abbot of the monastery dedicated to Archangel Michael on the island of Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel .
The Norman stone structure that still exists today has a central three-tier tower, the chancel and a roofless nave. According to local legend, the church was supposed to be built at the foot of the mountain, but stones and lumber were mysteriously transported to the top every night, so that the building was eventually built there.
The structure was rebuilt in the late Middle Ages and renovated in 1846 by Thomas Knytton of Uphill Castle. The entrance porch was rebuilt in 1904, but the church is partly in ruins since a new parish church was built in 1844.
There are three stone sundials on the building, one to the east of a simple group of tympanums above a bricked-up door on the south wall and one to the west of it. The third sundial is on the south side of the tower and dates from before the Norman conquest of England .
supporting documents
- ^ Churches ( English ) Uphill Village. Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ↑ Old Church of Saint Nicholas ( English ) In: Images of England . English Heritage . Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ↑ St Nicholas, Uphill ( English ) Churches Conservation Trust. Archived from the original on September 16, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ↑ Uphill Cliff ( English , PDF; 4 kB) In: English Nature's SSSI Information . Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ↑ Grahame Farr: Somerset Harbors . Christopher Johnson, London 1954, p. 65.
- ^ Uphill Windmill, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, Avon ( English ) In: Viewfinder . English Heritage. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ↑ Old St Nicholas history ( English ) Uphill Team Ministry. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ^ Clare Hayes: Folklore about Uphill church ( English ) Weston Mercury. Retrieved on August 26, 2010. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b St Nicholas Church ( English ) In: Pastscape . English Heritage. Retrieved on August 26, 2010. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
