Building record 0178300000 - ST NICHOLAS' CHURCH, LILLINGSTONE DAYRELL

Dimensions - Length 24m, Width 10m.
Plan Form - Rectangular.
Body, S aisle, chancel & W tower. Former N aisle (arcade walled up), taken down to repair church (B1-2).
Detailed description (B5).
Grade I. Parish Church. Retains Norman tower and chancel arch, otherwise mostly C13 with C19 N. aisle, organ chamber, vestry and restorations by G.E. Street 1868. Rubble stone, tiled roof. Tower of three stages with double lancets to bell-chamber. S. aisle has two- light Decorated window to left, 3-light Perpendicular window with flat hood-mould to right and 3-light window with reticulated tracery in E. wall. S. door is Early English with roll mouldings to arch on shafts with moulded caps and bases. C15 porch. N. aisle has paired lancets. Chancel has lancets, round headed to exterior and paired to E. with incised ornament in spandrels. 3-light E. window has geometric tracery. Interior: Norman arch to tower with single lancet over. Nave of three bays with double chamfered arches on octagonal piers with moulded caps and carved head corbels to W. end. Low Norman arch to chancel. N. wall of chancel has arch to organ and tomb recess under depressed pointed arch with two tracery bars resting on corbel with carved head below. S. wall has continuous hood-mould over piscina, sedilia, tomb recesses and low window to W. Arcade has shafts with nailhead ornament to moulded caps. Chancel has fine roof with wall posts, arched braces to collar, curved struts and wind-braces. Modern fittings. Monuments: elaborate table tomb with recumbent effigies of Paul and Dorothy Dayrell 1571; brasses to Richard Blakysley, rector, 1493 and to Paul and Elizabeth Dayrell 1491; wall tablets to Elizabeth Dayrell 1679 and Paul Dayrell 1690. RCHM II pp 167-169 (B6).
At NGR (B7).


Parish church of St. Nicholas, about 3/4 mile S.W. of Lillingstone Lovell church, is built of grey limestone rubble except the S. porch, which is of yellow-brown Northamptonshire stone, roughly ashlar-faced. The roofs are tiled, except that of the tower, which is covered with lead, and that of the porch which is made of large flag-stones. The NAVE is probably of late 11th century date. The CHANCEL was rebuilt and a window inserted in the W. wall of the nave in the 13th century; at a slightly later date the WEST TOWER was built, probably replacing a small 11th century W. chamber; towards the end of the 13th century the chancel was lengthened, a N. aisle built, and the SOUTH AISLE added. The SOUTH PORCH was built in the first half of the 15th century. The third stage of the tower apparently has been rebuilt, possibly in the 18th century; in the 19th century the NORTH AISLE was rebuilt, the VESTRY and ORGAN-CHAMBER were added, and the church was generally restored. The church is interesting on account of the early date of the nave; among the fittings the 16th century effigies in the chancel are noticeable and are evidently by the same sculptor as the Peckham effigies at Denham (see Denham, Inventory of S. Buckinghamshire, pp xxviii, 115); the 13th century tiles are also remarkable (B3).

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence.