St Nicolas Church, Portslade

About

St Nicolas Church is an Anglican church in the Portslade area of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It has 12th-century origins, and serves the old village of Portslade, inland from the mostly 19th-century Portslade-by-Sea area. It is one of the numerous hall churches in southern England.

History: A Roman road ran from north to south through the area which later became Portslade. There was no recorded Roman settlement, although Samian ware pottery has been found nearby and neighbouring Southwick had a Roman villa. A village began to develop in mediaeval times, and a manor house and church were built close to each other in the 12th century. As originally built, the church consisted of a chancel, a nave with an aisle on the south side, and a square tower at the west end. The nave, aisle and part of the tower appear to have been built first, along with the typically Norman architectural feature of twin pillars of Caen stone; the chancel and the upper part of the tower were built in the early 13th century. The bell tower, with battlements, was added at the top of the tower in the 14th century; the porch on the south side was added later, but probably by the 16th century....