This is the old church of St Nicholas in Uphill, it overlooks the village and the end wall you can just make out faces across the Bristol Channel to Wales. The nave has lost its roof, you may be able to make this out, and it is open to the elements. Part of the church is still roofed and occasionally there are services still held there, but there is a new parish church of St Nicholas, built in 1844 in the village.
This church was built in about 1080, but there was probably some sort of religious building on the site before , a Roman temple left some remains, and certainly there was something here during Anglo-Saxon times, probably a wooden church. . This area, near to sea and on the banks of the River Axe, has been inhabited since Neolithic times; there are caves beneath the church where human habitation is evident, early peoples left their tools and flint weapon blades, and the bones of animals they butchered, such as bear, hyena, rhinoceros, ox, horse, hog and polecat. There were also the remains of mammoths, bison, giant deer and lemmings.
Since ancient times there has been a wharf at Uphill below the cliff face of the quarry; the River Axe would have taken travellers and traders deep into the Somerset Levels, as far as Glastonbury for markets and pilgrimage to the abbey there. The west end of the church was limewashed so its brilliant whiteness would act as a marker and guide for ships coming up the channel… or as a guide for smugglers bringing goods in! Of course, St Nicholas was the patron saint of sailors and wayfarers, so having a church overlooking the sea would have enabled him to keep an eye on those in danger on the sea!
The graveyard is no longer in use, unless there is room in a family plot for you! There are some interesting burials in the churchyard, including the detective who arrested Dr Crippen and his mistress Ethel le Neve!
Lois Elsden 