 Nuthall
St Patrick
Stonework
The vast bulk of the stone used is magnesian limestone with smaller quantities
of sandstone and Lincolnshire limestone.
The magnesian limestone is almost certainly quarried in the immediate vicinity
of the church. Several small ponds in the grounds of the adjacent former manor
house site were formed from holes left by quarrying. The stone is very siliceous
and varies in hue from a rich brown to a warm apricot colour. The fine-grained
sandstone used would not have been from an immediate source. The rectory, older
cottages and farm buildings (notably Home Farm and Town Farm) in the village
centre, plus much of the local walling, are constructed from magnesian limestone.
Natural unquarried stone forms the lower layers of walls, still very visible
in stretches, on either side of the B600 Watnall Road running just east of
the church. Inside the church, as well as on the exterior walls, the stonework
is very worn in places, giving it a weathered, and in some places an almost
a crumbling, consistency. The earliest remaining part of the church, the tower,
has many very large sized blocks of magnesian limestone in its lower outer-wall
section. Within the tower, neatly lined rows of thin, rough-dressed, magnesian
limestone (surface rubble) shape the circular wall. On the later-built northern
exterior church wall the magnesian limestone is less well weathered and possibly
from a different quarry source. On the rebuilt/repaired east chancel wall,
reused magnesian limestone has been used, giving the whole exterior stonework
of the church a uniform look.
In additions and rebuilding, circa
1390 to 1400, sandstone was introduced to strengthen and when necessary to
supplement the limestone. It was used as a facing-stone on the buttresses on
the south wall of the nave and for the newly built south porch. Sandstone was
used for the windows on the south wall of the nave when they were altered at
this time. Although there are some large segments of magnesian limestone in
the columns that support the north aisle arches, a fine-grained sandstone was
used for most of the segments, as it was for the arches and decorative detail.
Lincolnshire limestone was used in the 19th century in later
alterations and additions to the chancel. Stonework round the vestry door
and the arch into the organ loft are of Lincolnshire limestone as are the sills
of the chancel windows. The stone is used again on the 19th century west
window of the tower. The new vestry (1974/6)
is a mixture of recycled fine and course grained sandstone.
The Victorian font is of good quality oolite
limestone (possibly Ancaster hard white).
A section of incised, coarse sandstone grit, a good quality and costly stone,
has been reused to form part of the buttress on the north tower wall. It has
obviously been removed from a more prestigious position. Another piece was
reused in the east wall of the chancel.
The roof is of slate.
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