St Nicholas The Great is a Grade I listed church in a rural conservation area. The original building was a wooden structure erected between 1078 and 1084, which was replaced with a stone building soon afterwards. Alterations were made in the 13th and 14th centuries and the brick tower was added in 1612. The tower holds a peal of 8 bells rung every other week by the benefice ringing team. The organ was installed in 1977.
The parish of St Nicholas the Great, Hurst, is in the same benefice as the parish of St Mary the Virgin, Twyford, and St James the Great, Ruscombe. That parish is also joined with Twyford’s United Reformed Church in a Local Ecumenical Partnership.
The church office is located at St Mary’s Twyford. A shared website gives full details of the history, mission, vision values and activities of all four churches. The website community is THRU-Christ, the name formed from the initial letters of Twyford, Hurst and Ruscombe and the U for the United Reformed Church.