When the main part of the St Nicholas church building was badly damaged in the Bristol blitz by an incendiary bomb on the night of 24 November, 1940, services were moved to the crypt, which was already being used as an air raid shelter. They continued there until 1959. This accounts for why the crypt seen in this 1951 painting is clearly a place of worship, with altar, altarpiece, hymn number board and pews. The incumbent of St Nicholas church during the war, Reverend Canon Stancomb, happened to be on fire watch the night of 24 November, 1940, and watched as the fire took hold and destroyed his church. Perhaps this was one reason why he acquired this painting (possibly by commissioning the artist) along with others showing the church. Canon Stancomb died in 1955 and his daughter, acting on his wishes, bequeathed this painting to Bristol on her death in 1969, along with a watercolour showing the destroyed exterior of St Nicholas church (K3032).