The Church of St Nicholas

To find out more about St Nicholas and other churches dedicated to his name around the world,
click here: www.stnicholascenter.org

The following notes on Holton Church and Village are taken from A Guide to the Camelot Parishes. 

The parish church of St Nicholas is a compilation of styles, reflecting the need for refurbishment and extension as required over the years.

Parts of the present building date from the 14th and 15th centuries, and improvements continued through to the Victorian era.  The floor tiling of the Chancel is characteristic of the period; the same style graced the pathways to the front doors of many a terraced house of the time.

The Arches to the Chancel, the Tower and the Porch are original.  The earliest Rector we know about, was appointed in 1316.  A list of the Rectors and Vicars of the parish may be seen near the Norman stone Font which could have come here from an earlier church.

The Bells, one of the oldest "rings of three" in the country, were cast in about 1420 by Robert Norton of Exeter.  In 1956, they were retuned and re-hung by Messrs Gillet and Johnson of Croydon, the cost being partly met as a memorial to the English family, who lived in, and worked for the parish from 1870-1950.

Outside the Priest's door into the south wall of the Chancel, there is a mounting block and there are scratch dials to be seen in the stone work on the left side of the door.  There is an ancient sundial over the elaborately moulded doorway to the Porch.

The War Memorial in the churchyard was formerly a preaching cross which is thought to  have stood in the centre of the village for several hundred years. 

In 1886, much restoration was done.  The north aisle was added, carefully in keeping with the existing structure. The wooden cladding was removed from the Pulpit to reveal the stone original with the tracery panels dating from the 15th century.

The tiling of the Chancel was put down to replace the existing flagstones.  A two manual organ, by Vowles of Bristol, was installed.  A small fire in 1968 damaged part of the south aisle floor, some pews and the vicar's desk.  This was replaced in 1990, in memory of Miss Hilda Norris, whose family had lived in Holton and worshipped in the church for many years. 

The Church Registers date from 1558 and are now lodged in the County Records Office in Taunton.
 

Holton Village

The village appears in the Domesday Book as Altone and was held by Humphrey, who was the King’s Chamberlain.  The area then was "Meadow 6 acres, Woodland 6 acres," The population was 1 villager, 4 smallholders, 1 slave.  Stock 1 cob, 2 cows, 12 pigs, 12 sheep.

The Former Rectory, now known as Holton House, is at Higher Holton.  The Old Inn was no doubt a hostelry for travellers between London and the South West.  The road through the village was then the main road.  The present Rectory, which is about 200 years old is next to the Old Inn.  It was the Smithy where horses could be refreshed.  A later smithy, now Horseshoe Cottage, was owned and used by the Norris family.

A former Baptist Chapel, now Chapel Cottage, was in use until after World War II.

Church Farmhouse, built in 1673, was thought to be the original farmhouse for what is now Manor Farm.  The Granary and back part of Manor Farmhouse are also of this date and one small part of the Farmhouse is of the 14th century.

The village hall, called the Jubilee Room, was given to the parish by Mrs Lucy Campbell of Holton House.

Lattiford Farm was formerly a monastery used as a resting place by monks travelling between Glastonbury and Cerne Abbas; there was a chapel and burial ground at what is now the farm.

A natural feature of Holton is that there are two Springs in the parish.  The water from one of them flows into the English Channel, while the water from the other eventually reaches the Bristol Channel; Holton is literally at the watershed.  At the well fed by one of them, behind Spring Cottage, we find a reminder of God's goodness inscribed in the stonework: "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." ( Psalm 103).

The water from this well, combined with that from many other small sources, flows into an ancient fishing lake used by the monks at Lattiford Farm, then onward to the Old Mill at Lattiford, now Merrymeet Kennels.

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