{"id":1199,"date":"2024-06-04T12:38:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T11:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/?page_id=1199"},"modified":"2026-08-11T15:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:00:20","slug":"history-pilgrimage","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/history-pilgrimage\/","title":{"rendered":"History & Pilgrimage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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    History &<\/h2>\n

    Pilgrimage<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<\/ul>\t\t\t\t
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    1. <\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\n\t\t\t\t
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      Welcome Leaflet<\/h3>\n
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      Please click\u00a0 below to download the Welcome Leaflet<\/p>\n

      Copies are available in the church<\/p>\n

      Welcome Leaflet A4 v5<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth\" Psalm 86:11\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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      <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

      The Way of the Pilgrim<\/h3>\n
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      St Nicholas Compton lies on an ancient trackway. The church is a midway stop between Farnham and St Catherine\u2019s, outside Guildford, on the route known today as the Pilgrim's Way which runs from Winchester to Canterbury.<\/p>\n

      Don't forget to collect a Pilgrim Stamp - oh and if you're looking to stay locally - you can contact Puttenham Barn Bunk House\u00a0 (puttenhambarn.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      Prayer for Pilgrims<\/h3>\n

      Dear God,\u00a0 <\/em>We ask your blessing as we travel today in spirit;\u00a0Guide our minds as we learn of those who came before us, traversing the pilgrim way.\u00a0<\/em>Give us a hunger to seek your face in paths through fields,\u00a0along roads trod by many seeking the blessing of your presence.\u00a0<\/em>Nurture our fellowship and help us to see each other as a brother or sister sharing the journey to your blessed kingdom.\u00a0Amen.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

      (Taken from: www.pilgrimways.org.uk)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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      Steeped in history and Grade 1 listed<\/h3>\n
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      \"How privileged we are in this Parish to have such a gem of a Church as St Nicholas ... What makes this Church so special is not only the magnificent architecture or the craftmanship displayed by the masons, the woodworkers and the artists; for me at least, it is also the simplicity and harmony of the whole, drenched in prayer and word of Almighty God.\u00a0 It is hard to realise that this Church was built before the first Millennium - nearer to the birth of Jesus than we are now to the building of our Church.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

      Words from James More-Molyneux, co-Patron of St Nicholas to 2013<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

      The Pre-Conquest Church (eleventh century)<\/h3>\n
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      The Domesday Book records a Church in Compton (Contone) in 1086.\u00a0\u00a0It is probable that this consisted of the present tower, with an aisleless nave in the line of what are now the piers of the nave.<\/p>\n

      At the east end was perhaps a narrow arch leading to a chancel, which would probably have terminated at the step of the present sanctuary. There is a sight-line from the anchorite's cell to the position of the altar which was unblocked in 1929\/1930.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      Pre-conquest Tower<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

      The Norman Church (eleventh and twelfth centuries)<\/h3>\n
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      The work done on the church between the Conquest in 1066 and c 1200 left the fabric substantially as it is today and was carried out in two distinct periods.
      \nThe chancel arch was built and the Saxon chancel extended eastwards with new windows in the North and South wall between c.1080-1100.
      \nThe greatest Norman building period was slightly later, between c.1160-80 date, when the arched pillars of the nave were created leading to the north and south aisles. The two-storied sanctuary with its magnificent carved arch and vault below and its nine-arched wooden balustrade above also date from the end of the Norman period.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      Norman Pillar<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

      Thirteenth and fourteenth centuries<\/h3>\n
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      The main structure of the church had been completed by the year 1200 - with one outstanding exception - the shingled broach spire which probably dates from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Additional light was provided in the chancel with new lancet windows and by decorated windows in the east walls of the aisles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      Virgin and Child Window<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

      Fifteenth and sixteenth centuries<\/h3>\n
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      The south wall of the Norman south aisle was raised in this period by about one metre.
      \nThe Elizabethan Acts and Injunctions passed to strengthen Protestantism allowed for churches to be provided with new plate. St Nicholas\u2019 Chalice from this time, namely a \u2019Communion cuppe of silver\u2019 dating from 1569 is on loan to the Diocesan Treasury and can be seen at Guildford Cathedral.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      Silver 'Cuppe' and Flagon<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

      Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries<\/h3>\n
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      The main features of this period are the wooden furnishings, provided c.1620, to meet the liturgical requirements of the Protestant church - the splendid pulpit and tester, the Communion rails and the screen. The altar table probably dates from c.1680 and would have been set with the Fulham Flagon and Paten (now both in the Cathedral Treasury).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      Pulpit and Tester<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

      Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries<\/h3>\n
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      This was a period of restoration and adaptation. In 1843 the church was re-pewed. The porch was rebuilt in 1845 and the vestry added in 1859. A major reconstruction of the nave roof was effected by Henry Woodyer in 1869 when the two dormers on the south side were replaced by three new ones.<\/p>\n

      A large window in the upper part of the east wall introduced in 1859, glazed with painted glass in 1876, was blocked up in 1953. Between 1906 and 1907 buttresses were placed at the east end of the chancel where large cracks had appeared.<\/p>\n

      In 1937 electricity was installed in the church to complement the newly improved hot-water pipe heating system after the old stoves were removed. Between 1995 and 1996 new choir stalls, a new organ and four new bells were added to the two seventeenth-century bells already in the tower.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      Blocked Window and Buttresses<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

      Twenty-first Century<\/h3>\n
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      In 2000, an oak partition was installed at the western end of the north aisle to provide a small kitchen area. During\u00a0 2023-2024, the medieval North door that was stopped up in Victorian times was re-opened, with landscaping in the North lawn to provide step-free access to the church.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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      North Door<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
      <\/div>
      <\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Please click\u00a0 below to download the Welcome Leaflet Copies are available in the church Welcome Leaflet A4 v5 St Nicholas Compton lies on an ancient trackway. The church is a midway stop between Farnham and St Catherine\u2019s, outside Guildford, on the route known today as the Pilgrim’s Way which runs from Winchester to Canterbury. Don’t forget to collect a Pilgrim Stamp – oh and if you’re looking to stay locally – you can contact Puttenham Barn Bunk House\u00a0 (puttenhambarn.uk)   Prayer for Pilgrims Dear God,\u00a0 We ask your blessing as we travel today in spirit;\u00a0Guide our minds as we learn of those who came before us, traversing the pilgrim way.\u00a0Give us a hunger to seek your face in paths through fields,\u00a0along roads trod by many seeking the blessing of your presence.\u00a0Nurture our fellowship and help us to see each other as a brother or sister sharing the journey to your blessed kingdom.\u00a0Amen.\u00a0 (Taken from: www.pilgrimways.org.uk)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1199","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1199"}],"version-history":[{"count":69,"href":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2014,"href":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1199\/revisions\/2014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stnicholascompton.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}