St Nicholas, Little Chishill, Cambridgeshire

I Location

Site Location
Little Chishill
National Grid Reference
TL 419 378
County
traditional: Cambridgeshire
now: Cambridgeshire
Diocese
medieval: Lincoln Ely from 1109
now: Chelmsford
Dedication
medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St Nicholas
Type of building/monument
Parish church

II General Description

Exterior from SE.

Exterior from SE.

The church, largely of flint, stands on a substantial mound, and consists of an aisleless nave with S porch; a 12thc. chancel of clunch rubble lengthened in the 16thc.; and a short two-storey W tower with a pyramid roof. There is a 12thc. window in the N wall of the chancel.

III Exterior Features

2. Windows

(i) Chancel N window

Exterior, chancel, N wall, window.

Exterior, chancel, N wall, window.

Exterior, chancel, N wall, window, L side, capital.

Exterior, chancel, N wall, window, L side, capital.

Chancel, N wall, window, R side, capital.

Chancel, N wall, window, R side, capital.

Interior, chancel, N wall, window and string course.

Interior, chancel, N wall, window and string course.

Round-headed, two orders.

First order: plain and continuous with a chamfer.

Second order: originally on nook-shafts (now gone). The bases are badly worn and the capitals have no discernable imposts. Enough survives of the E capital to suggest that it was originally of waterleaf form.

The arch is chamfered. Inside the window has a nook roll on bulbous bases, broken at springing level by double chamfered annulets.

VII History

In the Domesday Survey, Great and Little Chishill are taken together and recorded under Essex. A manor was held by Guy under Count Eustace of Boulogne in 1086, another by Roger d'Auberville, and a third by William Cardon under Geoffrey de Mandeville.

VIII Comments/Opinions

IX Bibliography

  • N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Cambridgeshire, Harmondsworth 1954 (2nd ed. 1970), 427-28.