St Nicholas Church, Harpenden

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The church of St Nicholas is the oldest known church in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. It was originally built as a Chapel-of-Ease in about 1217, until it was enlarged and the existing tower added in 1470. The old church was demolished in 1861 to make way for a larger building. The tower contains a ring of eight bells, the oldest of which dated from 1612.

Harpenden remained part of the ecclesiastical parish of Wheathampstead until 1859 but was, from the Middle Ages, a separate civil parish with its own officials, who were elected annually at the Abbot's Manorial Court, held at Wheathampstead. In 1862, only after three years after the long-sought separation from the parish of Wheathampstead, the church was rebuilt to accommodate the growing congregation.

The church is part of the Parish of Harpenden St Nicholas, a Church of England Parish within the Diocese of St Albans.