Visitors book in St Nicholas' church, Cottesmore.
"For 800 years this beautiful church, built of Clipsham stone, has stood in the centre of the village of Cottesmore, the Goda's Moor, mentioned in the Domesday Book. It is simple in style and uncluttered with memorials, although there is an interesting one, dated 1597 in the floor of the south aisle, and a number of others worthy of your attention, in the churchyard.
There seems little doubt that a church stood on the present site long before the earliest portion of the building as it now stands - the fine zig-zag ornamented 12th Century doorway, and the early Norman masonry can be seen in the flat buttress of the east end and in the North wall.
The Tower, with its wonderful Broach Spire, reaching to a height of 99ft, dates from the early 14th Century and at this period the church was completed in its present form, a Decorated 14th Century building.
The bells are dated 1598, 1660 and 1669, and the church registers date back to 1655, while the church plate is dated 1712. The pulpit is Jacobean.
Just inside the doorway can be seen the steps which once led up to a parvise above the present porch which was rebuilt in 1851 - about the time when the windows were restored, a vestry built and a heating system installed.
Originally the walls were wainscotted and plastered, there were high pews with doors and there was a singing gallery with an organ at the West End. These were removed in 1866.
The base of the octagonal Font was once used as a horse-stone at Cottesmore Hall! It depicts the Crucifixion and a bishop in the act of blessing... estimated as 12th Century, its true age is still one of conjecture.
In the 20th Century a number of additions and improvements have been made, including the present organ, the Reredos and oak panelling, the R.A.F. Chapel, dedicated in 1949 to those men who gave their lives whilst serving at Royal Air Force Cottesmore in the Second World War, the Choir Vestry Screen (now removed) and a modern heating system."
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