Description: The oldest part of the Church is the spacious nave, which was built in the 16th century. There are no aisles, and the north and the south walls are alike, save that the doorway on the north side is now built up. The tall three-light transom windows, and the doorways, have straight-sided arches, with a small curve at the springing, such as are frequently met with in the domestic buildings of the Tudors. Sir John Byron of Colwick, acquired the site of the Priory of Newstead, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540. Why he should have set out to rebuild Colwick Church during the troubled period which followed, is not clear, for church building was quiescent during the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. This nave, therefore, exhibits a specimen of architecture which is exceptional, and I do not think the county contains another example of ecclesiastical work of that period. But what is more remarkable still, is the fact that a chantry altar was actually set up and consecrated within this church some years after chantries had been suppressed. In 1684, the western tower and the chancel were rebuilt, and battlements were added to the nave, when the church assumed its present outward appearance, save that a vestry and organ chamber have been built on the north side in recent years. The tower, now used as a vestry, is bald and ugly, and the chancel would be uninteresting, were it not for the monuments which it contains. These can be seen but imperfectly in the dim light, which filters through the painted glass of the pseudo-gothic windows. Just about a 100 years ago, the east window was painted by that accomplished lady, Mrs. Sophia Musters, whose monument is on the south side of the altar. It is in the Church at Colwick that may be found the massive alabaster tomb of Sir John Byron, Knight of the Bath, bearing the effigies of the Knight and his wife, Alice, daughter of Sir Nicholas Strelley, Knight, of Strelley. Sir John, who died in 1609, is represented in plate armour with a skirt of lances of metal, a frill round his neck and wrists, a long chain round his shoulders, sabbatons and a short-hilted sword. He is shown as wearing a moustache and extravagantly long beard. The effigies have evidently at one time been coloured. Round the chamfered edge is a prettily-lettered inscription, recording their names and those of their children, whilst on the wall, within an arch beneath the entablature, which is supported by carved pillars, is a long and nearly illegible inscription in Latin. (information from www.nottshistory.org.uk)