Until a chapel or church was built at Kenilworth, parishioners were required to walk to Stoneleigh every Sunday.

Geoffrey de Clinton, who was Chamberlain and Treasurer to King Henry I, founded the Augustinian priory (later abbey) of St Mary the Virgin in 1119 and Kenilworth Castle in the early 1120s.

[4] One of the earliest pieces of masonry in the church of St Nicholas is the base of the font.

[7] Later in the 14th century the nave was widened again with the addition of a north aisle with Perpendicular Gothic windows plus a northwest porch.

However, position of the squint in this church suggests it may have been for a bellringer to see when to ring a Sanctus bell which would have been in a bell-gable outside above the chancel arch.

[8] St Mary's priory was under royal patronage by early in the 13th century and was made an abbey in 1458.

The Crown subsequently sold much of the abbey's estate, but it retained the advowson of the parish of St Nicholas.

In the demolition some architectural fragments were salvaged from the abbey and incorporated into the parish church.

[6] Workmen demolishing the abbey melted down the lead from the roof to make "pigs" or "fothers" to be taken away.

[7] A painting of the interior before the restoration shows the gallery in the south arcade and the old pulpit in the chancel arch.

[14] Bickmore's restoration included removing this arch and replacing it with a Gothic Revival one to conform with the north and south arcades.

[4] The chancel was extended eastward and a two-bay aisle was added to its south side,[4] originally to increase seating for the congregation in main services.

The north aisle was extended eastward by one bay to create an organ loft, to which a vestry was attached.

Joseph Nollekens (1737–1823) sculpted a putto leaning on a funerary urn to commemorate John Bird, who died in 1772.

He shows her reclining on her deathbed, surrounded by her grieving family, as an angel hovers at the foot.

They included the Great Bell which had been cast for St Mary's when Thomas Kidderminster was Prior (1403–39).

[4] In the Commonwealth era cracks were found in the bells, so in 1656 Bryan II Eldridge of Chertsey, Surrey melted them down and recast them as a ring of five and they were re-hung in a new frame.

One was given to the newly built St Matthew's parish church in Surbiton, Surrey.

By 1947 it was in poor order, but the parish felt unable to afford either to have it rebuilt or a new pipe organ built in its stead.

[19] In 1949 Baron Kenilworth provided enough funds for the parish to buy a new two-manual electronic organ made by John Compton, whose usual customers were cinemas and public ballrooms.

A granite column topped by a sculpture of a funerary urn marks the grave of Albert Morris, one of 34 people who were killed in the Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash on Christmas Eve 1874.

The parish has a silver-gilt chalice and cover made in 1568,[7] suggesting that she attended Holy Communion at St Nicholas that year.

[4] King James I visited Kenilworth in 1616, when the church's great doorway was "unsealed" for his ceremonial entry.