St Nicholas' Church, Gloucester

St Nicholas’ Church stands in Westgate Street in the heart of Gloucester. It is a Grade I listed building under the care of The Churches Conservation Trust. The church’s truncated spire is a familiar landmark in the city centre. Records show it was built around 1190 and later rebuilt in the 13th century. The tower and spire were added in the 15th century, though the spire was reduced after a cannon strike in 1643. Further repairs followed fires and restorations in the 19th and 20th centuries. The church’s exterior mixes limestone walls with slate roofs and Perpendicular tracery. The tower has three stages, diagonal buttresses and a battlemented parapet with pierced panels. A clock projects from the south side of the tower. The south porch contains a 12th-century doorway with an Agnus Dei carving above it. Inside, the nave has an open timber roof and varied arcades, some Norman, others Gothic. Inside, the tower holds a lierne vault and the chancel is paved with encaustic tiles. A chest tomb preserves the coloured effigies of Alderman John Walton and his wife from 1636. The oldest bells date from about 1499, and the organ built in 1831 was later moved. Squints in the chancel walls allow views into the aisles.