Thought to be some 800 years old, St. Nicholas’ Church stands in the centre of town, a place of tranquillity amid the bustling streets of Carrickfergus. The accepted story behind the church is that it was built in the late 12th Century by John de Courcy, the Anglo-Norman knight who had a reputation for establishing churches and abbeys during his rule.
A fascinating building to spend some time in, St. Nicholas’ Church has many noteworthy features. Note the crooked aisle, which symbolises the right-angle that Christ’s head is said to have fallen to while on the cross, and a chancel that is unusually twice the length of the nave. The church has several praiseworthy tablets and stained glass windows, including the John the Baptist window, hand-painted in the 16th Century, and the attractive window in the baptistery that features St. Nicholas in his Father Christmas guise. Also in the baptistery, you will notice that several cornerstones are scarred, presumably sword strokes caused by careless soldiers. Another part of the church that bears witness to history is the font, which was cracked during the French invasion of 1760 and has never been repaired. The church has been reconstructed several times over the centuries, and in 1907 work revealed the presence of some Norman pillars hidden in the nave.
When visiting St. Nicholas’ Church, enter the churchyard from the marketplace and you will walk through the handsome Bell Tower, erected in the early 1960s in tribute to the men of Carrickfergus who perished during the First World War.
