---
title: "St Nicholas, Compton"
description: "Located in Compton, Surrey. Built Eleventh-century tower; twelfth-century chancel and nave enlargement c.1180. Diocese of Guildford. Grade I. Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque, with a two-storey sanctuary style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Surrey","Compton","Grade I","Romanesque","Anglo-Saxon","Henry Woodyer"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-nicholas-compton"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:31:14.320Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-07T20:33:30.749Z"
location: "Compton, Surrey"
country: "England"
county: "Surrey"
town: "Compton"
address: "The Street, Compton, Surrey, GU3 1EG"
postcode: "GU3 1EG"
built: "Eleventh-century tower; twelfth-century chancel and nave enlargement c.1180"
architect: "Henry Woodyer (restoration)"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Nicholas"]
diocese: "Guildford"
grade: "I"
style: "Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque, with a two-storey sanctuary"
materials: "Mortar-rendered Bargate rubblestone with ashlar dressings; plain-tiled roofs and wood-shingled broach spire"
website: "http://www.comshackpep.co.uk/st-nicholas-church-compton/4578633706"
openingHours: "Open everyday."
parish: "Compton"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1188621"
gridReference: "SU 954 470"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas"
---

# St Nicholas, Compton

St Nicholas’s is a Grade I parish church on The Street, Compton, near Guildford, notable for its pre-Conquest tower and a rare intact two-storey Norman sanctuary.

## Overview

Historic England records an eleventh-century tower, twelfth-century Romanesque work to the chancel, enlargement of the nave about 1180, and later fourteenth-, fifteenth- and nineteenth-century alterations, restored by Henry Woodyer. The fabric is mortar-rendered Bargate rubblestone with ashlar dressings, a plain-tiled roof and a wood-shingled broach spire. The plan is a nave with pentice aisles, a double chancel and a square west tower with a south porch. The twelfth-century south door has chevron moulding.

The listing describes the two-storey sanctuary as vaulted below, with an upper chapel open to the chancel behind a late twelfth-century Romanesque timber guard rail — one of the earliest pieces of church woodwork in the country. The lower chamber has a quadripartite ribbed vault. Fittings include an early Norman font, Jacobean pulpit, altar rails and tower screen of about 1620, and a small thirteenth-century Virgin and Child roundel in the east wall of the lower chapel. The church is in the Diocese of Guildford and the parish of Compton.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1188621](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1188621)
- [British Listed Buildings: Church of St Nicholas, Compton](https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101188621-church-of-st-nicholas-compton)
- [Wikipedia: St Nicholas’ Church, Compton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nicholas'_Church,_Compton)