Old Church of St Nicholas, Uphill
51.320277777778 - 2.9827777777778Koordinaten: 51 ° 19 ' 13 " N, 2 ° 58' 58 " W
The Old Church of St Nicholas is an Anglican church building in Uphill, Somerset, England, which was built around the year 1080, but previously services were held at this point. The building stands on a cliff above Brean Down and the mouth of the River Axe.
The church is partly in ruins. It consists of a tower, the chancel and the roofless nave. It has been classified by English Heritage in the Grade II *, and is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The covered part of the building is still occasionally used for church services.
Geography
The partially ruined church stands on the edge of Weston -super- Mare on a cliff on the south side of Uphill Cliff, whose western end is a quarry.
The area is known for its species-rich grassland. Steeper sections and tops the grassland have a flora, including Walliser Schiller grass ( Koeleria vallesiana ), Blue-Green fiber screen ( Trinia glauca ) and gold - asters ( Crinitaria linosyris ) belong. These meadows are the habitat of several species butterflies and weevils ( Curculionoidea ).
The church is so over Weston Bay, Brean Down and the mouth of the River Axe, which served the Romans as a port, probably for the export of lead from the Mendip Hills. One is working nearby on a hill tower is the remains of a windmill from the 18th century.
History and Architecture
The cliff below the church includes caves, which had traces of human settlement since the Stone Age. These caves have since broken away and the artifacts brought to the museum. During the Roman period a Romano- British temple was built on the site. Some remains of it were found under the floor of the open nave. There are also traces of a wooden church in Anglo -Saxon times was here around the year 700 AD, and the port at Uphill could have been a center for pilgrims traveling on the way to Glastonbury Abbey. The church then passed under the abbot of the monastery dedicated to the Archangel Michael on the island of Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel.
The Today Norman stone building has a central three-stage tower, the chancel and a roofless nave. The local legend, the church was supposed to be built at the foot of the mountain, but stones and timber were transported every night in a mysterious way to the summit, so that the building was finally there.
The building was rebuilt in the late Middle Ages and in 1846 renovated by Thomas Knytton from Uphill Castle. The entrance porch was rebuilt in 1904, but the church is partly a ruin, since 1844 a new parish church was built.
There are three stone sundial on the building, one east of a simple Tympanongruppe above a bricked-up door on the south wall and west of it. The third sundial is located on the south side of the tower, dating from before the Norman conquest of England.
Documents
- St. Nicholas Church
- Church building ( Anglican)
- Church building in England
- Grade II * building in England
- Buildings in Somerset
- Built in the 11th century