An unusual architectural feature is a second tower, used as a beacon, at the east end (the church stands just inland from, and about 30 metres (98 ft) above, the small port).

St Nicholas contains some notable memorials, including several plaques for the Blakeney lifeboats and their crews, and much pre-Reformation graffiti, particularly depictions of ships.

St Nicholas is the parish church of Blakeney, Norfolk, a small English town with a history dating back to at least early Neolithic times.

[1] It was one of a number of small ports opening onto the sheltered inlet of Blakeney Haven, and exported a range of products including fish, grain, and timber.

[4] There are scheduled monument and Grade II listed ruins of a medieval building in the salt marshes north of the present town described as "Blakeney Chapel", but, despite the name, it now seems likely that this was a domestic dwelling rather than a religious edifice.

[15] Blakeney gained its market charter in 1222, and by the early 15th century it was one of the few ports permitted to trade in horses, gold and silver, through "merchants sworn by oath to the king", which contributed to the town's growing wealth.

[16] Few Early English churches survive in Norfolk owing to extensive rebuilding amid the prosperity of the 15th century,[17] and the thriving port of Blakeney was no exception.

[21] The rector from 1590 to 1621, Jacob Poynter, and his curate, Mr Aldriche, were keen Puritan reformers who refused to wear the surplice or use the Book of Common Prayer, and seemed to have had little concern for the fabric of the church.

[21] By 1717, the local population seems to have been very homogeneous in terms of belief: "Persons, servants included, above the age of sixteen, the men chiefly sea-faring are supposed to be rather above three hundred.

[25] Major renovations were carried out from 1981 to 1983; these comprised repairs to the north aisle roof and the east tower, plastering and limewashing of the chancel, replacement of the old electrical and heating systems, and minor work on the organ.

[18] The most recent round of restoration was the 2000 reflooring of the nave, installation of a vestry, toilet and kitchen, a new heating system with a detached boiler house, and reglazing of the north porch.

[21] The state had supported poorer clergy since the introduction of Queen Anne's Bounty in 1704, but since 1947 the Church Commissioners have been responsible for arranging the stipends and pensions of Anglican priests.

[32] They rest on stone plinths, each bearing carved shields,[18] that on the north buttress with an inaccurate rendering of the arms of the see,[2] and the other with a cross and a dolphin.

The only trace of the earlier 13th-century nave is the reuse of some older stone, mainly in the north aisle,[2] and the raised chancel walls, and some Purbeck Marble fragments beneath the west tower.

[34] Its walls were raised in the 15th century by constructing a chamber above the vaulting using stone from the demolished 13th-century nave,[18] but, from the outside, this end of the church is still lower than the western section.

This refers to the story of Saint Peter striking off the ear of Malchus, the High Priest's servant, in the garden of Gethsemane.

The new stalls and misericords match the style of the old, and the 1886 pulpit echoes the font, with the Instruments of the Passion on the stone stand, and the twelve Apostles carved on the woodwork.

This is thought more likely to be a version of Ranulf Higdon's Polychronicon, a geographical text, than a true map like the Hereford Mappa Mundi.

Powell, coincidentally based at Whitefriars, a former Carmelite friary in London, used leading members of the movement such as Edward Burne-Jones as designers, and his nine windows at Blakeney are regarded as fine examples of his work.

Some 15th-century fragments of the original Norwich School glass that had been buried in the churchyard during the Reformation were incorporated into one of the otherwise plain windows in the north aisle in 1938, showing "Christ rising from the tomb", with six figures above.

[43][44] The north porch is flanked by two blue-themed modern stained glass windows by Jane Gray from 2002, one dedicated to the RAF, the other to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

[4][9] A number of other stones carry standard tags in Latin or English requesting prayers or simply stating the identity of the internee, but Sir John Smyth's 1460 memorial enjoined "As I am that shall you be, Pray for the sowle of me".

St Nicholas has an extensive array of prayers, merchant's marks and other symbols, but is notable for the large number of depictions of ships, at least 30, heavily concentrated in the nave towards the eastern end of the south aisle.

The pillars were painted red in the Middle Ages, and ship images scratched into the soft, chalky stone would have been much more conspicuous than they are now.

[47] The carving of ship graffiti in religious buildings is a tradition in ports going back to the Bronze Age,[49] and has been found across Europe.

[50][51][52] Mason's marks were used by the stonemason to identify his work,[53] and in the days of the medieval craft guilds may also have had mystical or religious significance.

[58] A notable outsider buried here is Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin a leading British racing driver and one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s.

The parish accepts the diocese's guidance on permitting baptism and marriage in church after a divorce, and claims to work closely with its Catholic and Methodist neighbours.

[62] St Nicholas is also used for non-religious events such as flower festivals, craft workshops and musical performances, and it has won diocesan tourism awards for its in-church information facilities.