The Church of St Mary and St Nicholas in Wilton was built in the 19th century in the Italian Romanesque style with Byzantine influences. The Grade I-listed building features Europe’s oldest stained glass (dating from the 12th and 13th centuries) as well as 2nd-century marble columns.
![The Church of St Mary and St Nicholas in Wilton near Salisbury is built in the Italian Romanesque style with Byzantine influences, which makes it unique among English churches. (Photo: Jonathan Kington [CC BY-SA 2.0])](https://englandrover.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/st-mary-nicholas-church-wilton-geograph.jpg)
What to see at the Church of St Mary and St Nicholas
The Church of St Mary and St Nicholas has an unusual architectural style for an English church, which makes it an interesting place to visit.
The church has a 32m- (105 ft)-high campanile and it also features a Byzantine-style apse and medieval stained glass from France that is said to be the oldest in Europe as well as marble columns from a 2nd-century Roman temple. The interior is stunning and features intricate mosaics.
Visiting the Church of St Mary and St Nicholas
The church is on West Street near Wilton’s town centre. Wilton is only 5km (3¼ miles) east of Salisbury and, although it is now essentially a suburb of Salisbury, it maintains its own unique character. In fact, Wiltshire takes its name from Wilton, which was once Wiltshire’s county town.
It is open almost every day and it is free to walk around the grounds.
A visit shouldn’t take much longer than 20–30 minutes.
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