St Nicolas, Saintbury

This medieval church on the Cotswold Way near Broadway in Gloucestershire has a tall and slender spire that can be seen from all around and is a notable landmark. The building's earliest known feature is a sundial considered to date back to the eleventh century. The south door is Norman, with a rounded arch and roll-moulding with a tympanum carved with lozenge patterns. The arch makes a lovely contrast with the oak door, with ironwork created by the Campden Guild in Arts and Crafts style. Parts of the current building, including the nave, north transept and tower, date from the 13th century. The early finely carved box pews are an eighteenth-century addition and there is a notable collection of sevententh and eighteenth-century ledger slabs in the church. Arts and Crafts features were added in the early twentieth century, including the chancel and north chapel ceilings; the north chapel screen (c 1904 by Ernest Gimson); the north chapel reredos (c 1920 by Alec Miller) and the Chancel chandelier (1911 by Charles Ashbee). The 16th century font is carved with decoration from 3 distinct periods; billet ornament from the Norman period, Early English dog-tooth decoration, and Tudor roses. The double piscina is thought to date from the reign of Edward I. Jacobean Communion table is in the north transept, and under the table is the original medieval stone altar, or mensa. The altar stone was hidden under the Communion table during the Commonwealth period, when all stone altars were ordered destroyed by the Puritan leadership.