Nuthall
St Patrick

Features and Fittings

Chancel

Choir stalls

On the north side are two rows of choir pews with a brass plaque inscribed:

THE GIFT OF BERNARD BEARDSMORE, CHURCHWARDEN (1939) IN MEMORY OF HIS FATHER, FRANCIS BEARDSMORE, VERGER OF THIS CHURCH FOR 31 YEARS

There are two further rows on the south side with a repeat of above inscription.

The double piscina Detail of the two bowls
of the piscina

Piscina

Ground level double piscina on south wall

The east end of the church,
showing the altar and reredos

Altar and Reredos

Behind the altar table is a wooden Victorian-gothic carved reredos and panelling along east wall of chancel. The three panels of the reredos depict paintings of St Patrick, a chalice, and St George.

There is a small wall plaque which reads:

THE PANELLING ON THE NORTH
AND SOUTH WALL OF THE
SANCTUARY WAS GIVEN BY
GEORGE H BLANCHARD ESQ.
OF KILBURN HALL DERBYSHIRE
CHURCHWARDEN - 1945-1949

Note also the panelling that is dedicated as a War Memorial.

Foreign stones

There are three small ‘foreign stones’ (approx. 2"x1") set into the chancel walls. They were given by Mr George Turton following his travels in the Holy Land shortly after the Second World War.

Biblical place names

On the north wall of the chancel is a stone with a metal plaque inscribed GETHSEMANE.

On the south wall, behind the choir stalls, is another stone with a metal plaque inscribed MARS HILL, ATHENS.

On the south wall by the altar rails is a further stone with a metal plaque inscribed BETHLEHEM.

Flooring

The flooring is composed of Victorian tiles with some reused alabaster taken from redundant grave slabs.

Nave

Screen detail: Lion’s head Screen detail: Dragon (one of six)

Screen

The intricately traceried carved 15th century wooden screen was removed from the parclose area in the north aisle during the restoration in 1884, and, with additional wood and repairs, it was converted into the rood-screen now fronting the chancel. The delicate carving of fleurons and a lion’s head are reminiscent of the south doorway, while the six small dragon-like creatures re-echo the beast on the aisle pillar. There is also a small representation of a ‘greenman’ in the tracery. Some sort of screen or divide between the nave and chancel is indicated in 1593 and again in 1722. It is very possible that the rood screen had previously been dismantled and redesignated, following Reformation changes, becoming the parclose screen for the manor closet. However, Gill (1906) is of the opinion that it was not the original rood screen.

Pulpit & Lectern

The wooden pulpit and double lectern were both installed in the restoration of 1884.

Piscina

A small piscina on the south wall by the pulpit, long out of use, now houses two large volumes of the bible both with handwritten inscriptions recording their presentation in 1884:

This bible in two volumes was presented to St Patrick’s church Nutall, when it was Re-opened after Restoration, on St Simon and St Jude’s Day 1884 by Mr Henry Houghton, Rector’s Churchwarden and Elsie Holden, and Gladys Mary Holden, children of the Rector, Robt. Holden.

Tower

The font

Font

The font is octagonal and of marble and oolitic limestone (possibly Ancaster hard white), with heavy wooden cover. Inscribed on four sides:

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN THE MEMORY OF
JOHN HOUGHTON OF HEMPSHILL. DIED AUG.5TH 1886
OF ANNE HIS WIFE. DIED MAY 7TH 1882
AND OF HARRIET THEIR DAUGHTER. DIED SEPT. 2ND 1884, THIS FONT IS DEDICATED AD 1887.

(There is great speculation about the previous font/fonts. Stretton (1819) describes the font as “modern”; Glynne (1859) also says that the font is modern. One account from 1890 says “the old font was replaced by a shallow basin on a shapeless pedestal” and “A handsome new font has been recently erected and the old one finds an unhonoured place in the churchyard.” (Mansfield Advertiser) The rector at the time, the Rev H Holden, has crossed this out and added to the newspaper article in his own handwriting “not true”. On this evidence the font replaced in 1887 would not have been of great age, certainly not “the ancient Norman font” as written about by Turton, and in Doubleday’s following imaginative [1944] account “an early Norman font seems almost to hint that the Saxon church of timber gave way to one of stone soon after the Conquest”. It is known that the pre-1887 font was given to the church of St Michael and All Angels at Sutton in Ashfield. It is hoped that this font, be it ancient or modern, can be restored to St Patrick’s Church. Just to compound matters a font can be seen in a pre-1887 photograph of St Patrick’s church interior.)

North aisle

Handcuffs

At the western end of the north aisle wall is a pair of handcuffs mounted on a small wooden plaque with a brass inscription:

In memory of
Samuel Palmer
Born June 1813
Died March 1

The handcuffs are said to be a replacement for the original pair that were stolen.

Other items

Glass topped memorial table with Book of Remembrance.

Four flags, the Union Jack, senior scouts, scouts and guides.

Large glass-framed banner of the Virgin and Child (Mothers’ Union), situated by the Florence Heap Memorial Vestry.

Wooden cross in the niche of the now blocked hagioscope between the north aisle and the chancel.

There are two small metal plaques to the left of the north vestry door on the north aisle wall:

THE FLORENCE HEAP
MEMORIAL VESTRY
DEDICATED BY THE BISHOP OF SHERWOOD
ON THE FEAST OF ST. JAMES THE GREAT 1974
THE VESTRY WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE ON
OCTOBER 1ST.1976
IT WAS REDEDICATED ON
THE FEAST OF ST. JAMES THE GREAT 1997
BY THE BISHOP OF SHERWOOD