Church Of St Thomas A Becket

Church of St Thomas a Becket

This is a parish church standing on Manor Road in Burton Coggles. It dates from the 12th century, with significant additions in the early 13th, early 14th, and 17th centuries, and underwent restoration in 1874. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings, beneath a lead and tiled roof with stone coped gables.

The church comprises a western tower, nave with clerestory, aisles, chancel, and south porch. The tower is a two-stage structure from the early 13th century, unbuttressed, with chamfered string courses and a corbel table decorated with human heads. Rising from it is an early 13th-century ashlar broach spire with two tiers of gabled lucarnes in the principal directions, each having annular shafts and pointed lights. The tower lucarnes feature pierced quatrefoils and dogtooth surrounds. The belfry stage contains single lancets. The west wall carries a lancet window, above which sits a trilobed and gabled empty niche.

The north aisle's west wall contains a two-light 14th-century window with cusped ogee heads and a quatrefoil. The north wall has a pointed chamfered doorway leading to a late 13th-century window with Y tracery. The east wall carries a three-light window matching that to the west. Three two-light clerestory windows from the 14th century have cusped ogee heads and moulded pointed surrounds. Above runs a plain moulded parapet.

The early 14th-century chancel features a pair of two-light windows with curvilinear tracery and mouchettes in pointed chamfered surrounds. A 19th-century three-light east window occupies the gable. The southern chancel windows match those to the north, the more westerly displaying a triskele. Beside it is a contemporary low side window, cusped within a rectangular surround.

The south aisle dates to around 1300 and displays a moulded parapet. Its eastern side carries a two-light window, and the south side has a three-light window with Y tracery but shallow cusping. To the west stands an early 14th-century two-light window with cusped ogee heads and a quatrefoil. The 14th-century gabled porch has a pointed and moulded outer arch, with a 19th-century three-light side window to the west and a pointed and moulded early 14th-century inner doorway fitted with an 18th-century panelled door.

Interior

The interior features a three-bay 14th-century nave with octagonal piers and responds, moulded capitals, and double chamfered arches bearing human head label stops. In the nave's west wall is a 13th-century double chamfered arch with octagonal responds, above which a 12th-century round-headed single splayed window and the scar of an earlier gable remain visible.

A 14th-century trefoil-headed piscina sits in the south aisle. The chancel arch is 14th-century with double chamfered construction, octagonal responds and capitals. To the north are ogee-headed upper and lower doorways leading to the roof loft. The nave roof is a 17th-century strutted tie beam. The south aisle contains a fine roof with moulded principals and a fluted wall plate, inscribed with the initials H C and dated 1622. The chancel holds a 19th-century double piscina and a carved panelled stone reredos, beneath a 19th-century roof with carved angel corbels.

The stained glass in the chancel dates to around 1874 and was made by Hardman. Most fittings are 19th-century, except for a recut 14th-century octagonal font.

Monuments and Fittings

In the south aisle is a brass plaque to Robert Cholmeley, who died in 1590. It is a rectangular inscription plate with a moulded alabaster surround, a strapwork pendant to its base, and scrolled foliage to the sides topped by a cartouche of arms. Set into the wall around it are three miniature brasses depicting a knight, a civilian, and a lady, alongside three brass shields of arms, all dating to around 1620. The aisles contain four wall plaques from the 17th and 18th centuries—two of limestone and two of marble. One marble plaque dates to 1717 and bears a triangular pediment and urn; another from 1692 displays scrolled pediments and an achievement of arms.

In the porch, on the stone benches on either side, stand two early 14th-century cross-legged effigies of knights. One features a nodding ogee canopy, cusped and crocketed, with angels above. Both wear chain mail and surcoats.