Church of Saint Nicholas Within

Freestanding three-bay single-storey remains of Church of Ireland church, built 1707, on site of earlier church. Now roofless and ruinous. Squared calp limestone parapet and carved cornice over cut calp limestone wall to front (west) elevation, coursed rubble calp to north elevation. Carved calp limestone plinth course. Pilasters flanking central bay to front. Segmental-headed openings to north elevation, chamfered cut calp surrounds, wrought-iron openwork panels to openings. Central round-headed opening to front, blocked, having keystone, carved chamfered surround. Square-headed door openings to front, blocked, with carved calp limestone lugged architrave surrounds. Pair of square-profile rusticated granite piers having carved capping, flanking double-leaf cast-iron gate to north of church, matching railings on carved granite plinth wall.

The Church of Saint Nicholas Within was so called to distinguish it from the Church of Saint Nicholas Without, two churches of the same parish separated by the city walls. Founded in the eleventh century and subsequently rebuilt in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, the latter incarnation incorporated a tower and spire. It fell out of use and was ruinous by the early nineteenth century, the façade later being moved back to permit road widening in 1911. Traces of its former grandeur can be discerned in the elegant symmetry of the façade, and carved calp limestone detailing which attests to the skill and artisanship employed in its construction. The building makes a subtle but pleasing contribution to the streetscape, as a reminder of the ecclesiastical history of the site as well as a surviving piece of eighteenth-century architecture.