Parish Church Of St Thomas A Becket

Parish Church of St Thomas a Becket

This parish church dates from the 12th to 15th centuries and was substantially restored in 1861 by W. Thompson, architect of Grantham, when the tower and spire were rebuilt. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble and ashlar with slate and lead roofs featuring raised stone coped gables.

The church comprises a west tower and spire, nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, and a chancel. The 13th-century west tower rises through three stages with a chamfered plinth, string courses, and stepped set-back buttresses. It is topped by a broach spire with two tiers of Y-traceried and gabled lucarnes in alternating directions. The belfry stage contains single two-light louvered openings with shafted mullions and pointed heads to the lights with trefoils, all in pointed and chamfered surrounds. The ground floor west side has a single double-chamfered pointed light.

The south aisle west wall displays a steeply pointed and moulded window. The north aisle contains a 15th-century two-light window with cusped Perpendicular tracery. The north wall has two broad 15th-century three-light windows matching the western example. A doorway with a pointed head, rectangular surround and foliage to the sunk spandrels also appears here. The east wall of the aisle contains a further matching three-light window.

The chancel east wall holds a 19th-century three-light window with cusped flowing tracery. The east wall of the south aisle features a 14th-century three-light window with cusped flowing tracery forming daggers and mouchettes in a hollow chamfered pointed surround. The south wall contains a pair of matching two-light 14th-century windows. The aisle is further enriched with crocketed gabled buttresses and a frieze decorated with cusped running scrolls.

The gabled south porch has a continuously moulded outer doorway with a recut head, side benches, and a 14th-century inner door, also continuously moulded, with fleurons and a crocketed and pinnacled hood.

Interior

The interior contains a two-bay late 12th-century north arcade with circular piers and responds having elaborate square capitals decorated with partially unfinished stylised foliate scrolls. The arches are double stepped and round with a chamfered inner order. The 14th-century south arcade has three bays with filleted quatrefoil piers and reveals, foliate capitals, and two orders of wave moulding to the pointed heads.

The broad 13th-century tower arch has filleted engaged double-shafted reveals and triple-chamfered arched heads, above which is a single lancet. The recut 13th-century chancel arch has engaged shafted 12th-century reveals with cushion capitals and a double-chamfered pointed head. In the south wall of the south aisle is a reset 14th-century human head corbel.

The north wall of the chancel contains a broad 12th-century archway into the north aisle with paired engaged shafted reveals, cushion capitals, and a chamfered and stepped round head. In the south wall of the chancel is a 14th-century archway into the aisle with double wave moulded decoration dying into the reveals.

The principal fitting is a recut late 12th-century tub font with engaged octagonal angle shafts having square stiff-leaf capitals and a 19th-century octagonal base. Other fittings, including a panelled softwood pulpit, date from the 19th century.