Church Of St Thomas A Becket And Remains Of Beauchief Abbey Church

The Church of St Thomas a Becket and the remains of Beauchief Abbey date back to approximately 1175, with significant additions in 1662 and a 19th-century restoration. The site was founded as a Premonstratensian abbey by Robert Fitzranulph and was dissolved in 1536. The church was later established and the abbey remains restored by Edward Pegge.

The building consists of a gabled nave, a west tower, and attached walls, constructed from coursed rubble and ashlar with stone slate roofs. The east end features a four-light, pointed arched window with intersecting tracery and a hoodmould. A near-central, round-headed 12th-century doorway on the south side has been reglazed to form a window. Attached to the south-east corner is a 7-meter length of consolidated wall, approximately 3 meters high. The truncated west tower has a moulded plinth, gabled angle buttresses, and a pyramidal roof behind a low parapet. A reglazed, early 14th-century, five-light pointed arch window is located to the west, with a rebated reveal and hoodmould. An Early English style moulded doorway, lacking its shafts, has been added on the west side, along with 20th-century double doors and a glazing bar overlight. A reset 12th-century moulded doorway is visible on the north side, and a reset, three-order, 14th-century doorway is on the south. An ogee-headed doorway with an ogee hoodmould and finial is present on the north side of the tower. An arched window with a moulded head is on the east side, partially obscured by the nave.

Inside, the church features a strutted queen post roof, dating to the 19th century. A double chamfered tower arch with clustered piers and chamfered responds is to the west, leading to a cross beam ceiling. The interior also contains 17th-century box pews, a panelled, octagonal oak pulpit with a reading desk and a clerk's pew below, a 19th-century octagonal font, and an early 19th-century round-headed psalm board with a coat of arms. A mid-19th century stained glass window is also present. Memorials include a marble and slate tablet with a figure (1846), by Henry Weekes, to Elizabeth Burnell, as well as other marble and slate tablets dated 1679 and 1774. Beauchief Abbey is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.