Church of St Nicholas

St Nicholas Church stands in the village of Hardwicke in Gloucestershire. It is a grade I listed building made of stone, built in early English and late perpendicular styles. The church has a chancel, a nave, a south-facing porch and a western tower with six bells and a clock. Inside are monuments to the Trye family and stained glass windows dedicated to the Fenwicks and Thomas Barwick Lloyd Baker. The churchyard contains a house built around 1680, now privately owned. The church’s history goes back to a chapel first built in 1092, possibly on earlier Anglo-Saxon foundations. The chancel, nave and south aisle walls were rebuilt in the early thirteenth century. The altar was consecrated in 1350 by the Bishop of Worcester. Bermondsey Priory sold the church in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. The tower, porch and gargoyles were added in the early fourteenth century, and further windows and the rood loft came in the late fourteenth century. Visitors find a quiet country church with a tower that holds six bells. The interior shows the 1878 restoration by Waller and Son of Gloucester, which added the north aisle and chapel for the organ. The lychgate was opened in 1921 as a First World War memorial. The organ now stands at the west end of the north aisle with a new case. The churchyard retains the old timber-framed house and offers peaceful views over the village.