Church Of St Thomas

WIGSTON BLABY ROAD, SOUTH WIGSTON SP59 NE (North Side)

3/18 Church of St. Thomas

GV II*

Parish Church. 1892-3 with tower of 1901, by Stockdale Harrison. Brick with wide sweeping Westmorland slate roof. West tower offset to south. Clasping buttresses are articulated by stone gablets, and turning through an angle run up to form the corners of the embattled parapet: the central articulation of this parapet is also angled. Canted stair turret projects in the north wall with a stone capping roof above a thin band of window. Windows in the upper stage are paired single lancets with applied foiled tracery and louvres. From the springing of their arches a stone band articulates this stage. Entrance in the south wall of the tower, the arch moulding dying into the clasping buttresses. Tall lead fleche caps the tower. The west wall is articulated by decorative brick bands and 5 separate lancet windows slightly stepped in height with relieving arches over, and clasped by buttresses. Below these is aismall lean-to with 3 arched lights. At the gable apex a wood bell canopy is corbelled out. Lead fleche caps the tower. Entrance in south face of tower, the arch moulding dying into the clasping buttresses. The wide spanning nave is of 7 bays, precisely articulated by buttresses between the paired lancet windows. The chancel is of 3 bays, with high lancet windows. Inside the enormous single volume of the church is striking. The walls, like the exterior, are articulated by buttresses and the windows are placed high up above a yellow brick sill band. From corbels on the buttresses the roof trusses spring: curved braces support a flat tie beam with which purlins form square panelled decoration above the ceiling. The chancel arch is clasped by buttresses and flanked by lesser arches, one of which is blind. It is a stripped down style with minimal capitals and no moulding. Square Jacobean style pulpit and chancel fittings. Chancel windows set in deeper embrasures. Reredos of 1913, simplified panels with tiny carved frieze in each bay. Stained glass of 1919 in the east window, a pictorial style. In the south wall a series of windows of 1922 in a painterly Renaissance style. On the west wall a painted triptych depicts Mary and Child with two Angels.

Listing NGR: SP5864698346