Nicholas Cartwright, Vicar 1553-58
Cartwright was a distinguished Oxford Scholar who took part in national debates in 1549 over the future religious direction of the country, taking the Protestant side. However, after the restoration of Roman Catholicism under Queen Mary in 1553, Cartwright renounced his Protestant beliefs and seems to have remained vicar of St. Nicolas until 1558.
John Inett Vicar 1678-87
Another distinguished scholar, Inett so impressed Sir Roger Newdigate of Arbury Hall when he heard him preach in London that Newdigate wrote out the sermon on ten pieces of foolscap paper and made him Chaplain at the Hall. Inett’s A Guide to the devout Christian (published 1688) may well have been written while he was vicar of St. Nicolas.
John Foxcroft, Vicar 1700-1721
Thomas Foxcroft 1700-1721 was the subject of a complaint made in an anonymous letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury alleging that Foxcroft did little work himself in the parish and underpaid his curate.
R. Bruce Stopford Vicar 1803-1845
Stopford was notorious for being an absentee vicar, that is one who took the income from the living and left an over-worked curate to look after the parish. We have now found that for almost the same period of time that he was vicar of St Nicolas he was also the Rector of Barton Seagrave in Northamptonshire where there is a plaque in his honour. He was also a Royal Chaplain. But St. Nicolas rarely received the benefit of his presence, for example, when he preached the occasional charity sermon.
Thomas Wele, Vicar 1505-21
Wele was a Benedictine friar who became vicar in 1505. His will reveals his desire to be buried ‘in the chauncell of the parish church of Nuneaton’. This was an unusual request suggesting a real affection for parish and people. We don’t know if it was carried out!
