Church Of St Thomas

The Church of St Thomas is a parish church dating primarily to the 12th and 13th centuries, with significant restoration work carried out in 1663 and 1867. Constructed of sandstone rubble, with snecked sandstone in 19th-century sections, it features quoins and ashlar dressings, and a lead-covered roof with stone gable copings and cross finials. The church comprises a west tower, an aisled nave with a south porch, and a chancel with north vestries.

The wide, three-stage west tower has a small round-headed window in the first stage, a painted wooden clock above, and paired chamfered belfry lancets with a central shaft. A corbel table supports battlements of grey stone, likely dating to the 17th century and made from millstone grit, featuring prominent stone drains, sloped coping, and small, eroded corner pinnacles. A single ogee-headed belfry opening is found on the north elevation. The south porch has a chamfered round-headed arch under a small cusped light set within a shallow gable with a steeper peak. A 19th-century inner door is within a round-headed, chamfered surround with roll moulding and a roll drip-mould, resting on a pilaster string and nook shafts. Stone benches line the sides of the porch. The 19th-century windows feature Decorated tracery: two lights to the south aisle, three lights to the north aisle, and three lights to the west. The east window of the chancel contains five cusped lights under a two-centred arch, with three similar lights in the south chancel and east vestry; other chancel windows are narrow and round-headed or lancet. A 19th-century priest’s door is also present. The chancel has a ball-flower frieze, while the aisles have roll-moulded parapets. A sundial, dated 1727 and inscribed with the motto "Ut Hora Sic Vita", stands on the south chancel aisle.

The interior has stone walls with ashlar dressings, with the north arcade constructed from Frosterley limestone. A waggon roof covers the nave and choir, with a panelled ceiling in the sanctuary. Four double-chamfered nave arcades have continuous drip moulds, round piers with moulded capitals on the south side, and more slender columns with octagonal capitals and high square bases on the north side. A two-centred chamfered chancel arch and an inner arch are supported by head-carved corbels, while the tower arch is double-chamfered and sits on octagonal half-columns with drip moulds. The rere-arches to the aisle windows are two-centred and chamfered. A relocated 17th-century reredos, featuring arcaded panelling under a richly-carved entablature, is found in the tower. A tub font, featuring a wide roll moulding, is also present. Early 20th-century Jacobean-style chancel screen and altar furnishings are visible, alongside 17th-century poppyheads on the bench ends. A surviving tier of a 17th-century pulpit remains in the north aisle. Fragments of medieval painted glass are incorporated into the west window. Plaques in the tower detail the history of restorations. A classical-style white marble memorial on a black mount, signed by Sanders, New Road, Fitzroy Square, London, commemorates Isabella Arnison. A Jacobean royal arms is situated above the door. Two oval high-relief panels in the chancel, depicting Adam and Eve with the serpent and Christ walking on water in a Flemish style, are of high quality and likely date to the 17th century. A Victorian royal cipher is incorporated into the glass of the south aisle east window. Painted panels illustrating the Creed, Commandments, and Lord’s Prayer are now located in the vestry. A Roman altar, found in Bollihope Common, is temporarily stored outside the vestry.