Church Of St. Thomas A Becket

Church of St. Thomas a Becket

This is a parish church of exceptional architectural significance, with work spanning from the 11th century through the 19th century. The building was substantially restored around 1854.

The church is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings, and is roofed with Collyweston slate with stone coped gables. It comprises a nave, chancel, south porch, tower, north chapel, and vestry.

The west wall contains a single 13th-century lancet. The north wall displays runs of herringbone work, characteristic of 11th-century construction, together with a blocked single splayed round-headed window suggesting an 11th-century date. A blocked 13th-century pointed doorway and a 19th-century two-light window are also present. The north chapel is built of banded limestone and features a 19th-century Tudor arched doorway in its west wall. The north wall of the chapel contains a large four-light transomed window of the 14th century with reticulated tracery to the head.

The chancel's north wall has two 13th-century lancets, whilst the vestry contains a pair of trefoil-headed lights. The chancel's east end features a three-light 14th-century reticulated window. The south wall contains a lancet and two two-light reticulated windows, one set low with a transom, adjacent to a 13th-century pointed doorway.

The tower is a late 13th-century structure of three stages with clasping buttresses and a broach spire topped with two tiers of lucarnes. Paired lancets with circles in the tympana light the belfry stage. The east wall has a blocked doorway with a 19th-century ogee head. On the south side are single lancets to the lower stages, the upper light having shafted reveals and annular capitals. Within the blocking of the arch in the south wall is a 17th-century mullioned and transomed window with a pointed head.

The south porch is an early 14th-century gabled structure with set back buttresses. It features a double chamfered outer arch with triple shafted reveals, foliate capitals, and a moulded hood with human head stops. The side benches and a pair of Y-traceriied lights to the east light the porch. The 13th-century inner doorway resembles the outer but has annular capitals with hobnails. Beyond the porch is a late 13th-century two-light window with cusped heads to the lights, a quatrefoil above, and a moulded hood.

Interior

The north side of the nave contains an early 13th-century triple chamfered arch with octagonal responds and capitals. On the south side are two similar arches, one opening into the tower and one now blank. The nave roof is collared with common rafters with diagonal braces to the collars.

The north chapel is separated by a pierced stone screen of two lights with moulded lintel and cambered arch over. In the sill is a stone bearing a relief carving of a circle with six oak leaves about a central hole, reputedly a piscina or offertory basin. The north wall contains a late 13th-century moulded pointed arched tomb recess. In the tower chamber is a 14th-century ogee-headed door to the rood loft.

The chancel arch is of early 13th-century date, triple chamfered with triple shafted engaged reveals and annular capitals with hobnails. In the chancel's south wall is a 14th-century sedilia with ball flowers to the carved cornice, and beyond it a 13th-century piscina with cusped head and dogtoothed hood. A triangular aumbry is set in the north wall. The chancel contains a 19th-century carved stone reredos with terracotta floral tiles beneath the string course on each side. Stained glass of 1898 is present.

The chancel wooden screen dates from 1913. All other fittings are 19th century, including the octagonal font.

Monuments

The tower chamber contains a large 15th-century stone slab with an engraved cross fleury and margin inscription. The north chapel houses two Carrara marble wall plaques by Nollekens with grey marble obelisks. One commemorates Reverend Dr. Francis Willis of Greatford Hall, who died in 1807, and features a bust, books, and an inscription recording the curing of George III's lunacy. The other is to Mary Willis, who died in 1797, and shows a draped urn. On the north wall is a further monument by M. C. Wyatt to Francis Willis, who died in 1831, taking the form of a double aedicule with pediment and draped upper inscription panel. On the west wall is a tablet to John Willis M.D. of Shillingthorpe Hall, who died in 1835, by T. Gaffin of London, showing a sarcophagus with a panel of the deceased at rest, tended by angels. Nearby is a small plaque to Mary, Countess Dowager of Pomfret, who died in 1839, featuring a draped fluted urn. The chancel contains a wall plaque to Petrus Lafargue, Clerk, who died in 1804, comprising a rectangular panel surmounted by an urn. In the south porch is a large square panel with bolection surround to Robert Bonner, who died in 1661, and a shield-shaped plaque to his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1709, with foliage and cherub decoration.