Most medieval churches carry the marks of several centuries — a Norman nave, a Decorated chancel, a Perpendicular tower. The Church of St Nicholas at Islip is different. It was rebuilt over a concentrated period from around 1400 to 1440, producing a building of unusual unity. The tower and spire went up first, followed by the nave, and the result is a coherent Perpendicular Gothic design where every element belongs to the same architectural language. High-quality gargoyles along the nave, clerestory and south porch suggest craftsmen who invested in the details visible only from below. What interests me as an architect is that consistency of purpose. Someone decided to build a complete church, not merely to add to an existing one, and the community had the resources and the determination to see it through. The building, Grade I listed, stands above the River Nene, which bounds the parish to the east, with the nine-arched bridge to Thrapston just beyond.
Award-winning Architects in Islip
Award-winning Design, Conservation Discipline
The Deerings, a certified Passivhaus home in Hertfordshire, won the RIBA East Award in 2018 — and that recognition reflects an approach where every detail serves the whole, the same discipline those fifteenth-century builders brought to Islip. I was a finalist for Sustainability Architect of the Year at the Building Design Awards the same year, and in 2025 I was invited to judge the British Homes Awards. I founded Gresford Architects in London in 2006, and we now work from Oxford with clients across the country. I am an ARB-registered and RIBA Chartered architect, a member of SPAB — the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings — the Passivhaus Trust and The Green Register. Our projects have been published in Dezeen, Grand Designs Magazine and The Modern House Journal.
Architectural Services Near Thrapston
Sustainable Design connects every project we take on, and in Islip the church demonstrates that a building designed as a coherent whole — with consistent materials, proportions and detailing — has a better chance of surviving intact than one assembled piecemeal over centuries. PassivHaus Design sets our benchmark for new construction, delivering certified comfort with minimal energy demand. New Build Design in Islip should respect the limestone character of the village and its relationship to the Nene. For sites in the countryside around the parish, where the river valley and the ridge above it shape the views and the light, Paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework provides a route to architecturally outstanding homes — but the design must match the quality of a landscape that already contains Grade I listed architecture.
Extension Design in Islip should respond to the stone character and proportions that give the village its coherence. The relationship between the buildings, the lanes and the river contributes to a settlement that reads as a whole — and an extension should respect that reading. Whether the brief is a ground-floor extension connecting the house to the garden, a garden room, or additional space above, the design should make the whole building feel more resolved while sitting comfortably within the village fabric.
EnerPHit, the Passivhaus Institute's certified retrofit standard, addresses the thermal performance of older homes without compromising their character. The stone cottages in Islip present the familiar challenge of solid-walled construction: thick walls with no insulation, draughty junctions, and a building envelope that predates any concept of thermal efficiency. Vapour-open insulation, careful airtightness detailing, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery can transform them — warmer, quieter, dramatically cheaper to run — while the stone facades continue to weather as they always have.
Renovations in Islip engage with a building stock shaped by the village's position on the Nene. The church, restored in 1854–55 with a vestry added in 1881, contains stained glass by Kempe and by Clayton and Bell — evidence of the continued investment that has kept the building in use for over six hundred years. The stone houses along the High Street and Mill Lane use the local limestone with the proportions typical of the Nene valley. North Northamptonshire Council handles planning for the parish. Through my membership of SPAB, I approach these buildings with the understanding that solid stone walls manage moisture through their mass and their lime mortar — and that any renovation must work with that behaviour.
Islip's church was built as a whole, in a single generation, and the unity shows. If you are considering a project here, we would welcome the conversation.