St Nicholas, Tillingham

St Nicholas is a Grade II* parish church on The Square in Tillingham, on the Dengie Peninsula in Essex, in the Diocese of Chelmsford. The Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral remain patrons of the living.

Overview

Historic England records a twelfth-century nave, a thirteenth-century chancel rebuilt and lengthened, and a fourteenth-century chancel arch, south aisle and west tower. The south aisle was rebuilt and the arcade restored in the nineteenth century, when a south porch and north vestry were added. A wall plaque records restoration of 1888–1911 and rededication in 1891. The fabric is septaria and flint rubble with limestone dressings and red plain tiled roofs. The west tower is crenellated, with a raised south-east stair turret.

The interior retains a thirteenth-century piscina and three-bay sedilia, a fourteenth-century two-centred chancel arch, and a twelfth-century square font with carved foliage on a central column and four corner shafts. The listing notes a brass said to be to Edward Wiot (1584). Wikipedia and parish accounts stress the long link with St Paul’s, whose landholding on the peninsula shaped the quality of the carpentry, including a king-post roof uncommon in earlier Essex work.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1247743
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Nicholas