Church Of St Thomas

The Church of St Thomas is a church built in 1751, with a reconstruction after a fire and the chancel completed in 1903 by F.T. Beck. It is constructed of brick with ashlar dressings and has a slate roof, showcasing a classical style. The church features a chancel with an apse, a north organ loft, and a south vestry, along with a nave that includes a west tower.

The chancel is adorned with a top cornice and parapet with balustrading, and it has quoins. The round apse contains three round-headed windows with archivolts and keys situated between paired brick pilasters. The two-bay returns have an architraved window with friezes and cornices above single-storey parapeted wings, which also feature architraved windows with triple keys and similar entrances.

The nave boasts a modillioned cornice and a parapet with balustrading, along with quoins. Its symmetrical five-window elevations have two tiers of windows, with square lower windows on sill blocks, architraves, and keystones. The six central windows are framed with Gibbs surrounds and all have small-paned fixed glazing.

The three-stage tower is characterized by quoins and re-entrant blocks. The entrance features a Gibbs surround, a pulvinated frieze, and a segmental pediment with paired panelled doors. The second stage has a keyed roundel, while the top stage includes a sill band and round-headed windows obscured by clock faces. The tower is topped with a cornice, a balustraded parapet, and acorn finials, along with a pyramidal roof and weathercock. The re-entrants display simpler details, architraved windows, and return entrances.

Inside, the church features barrel-vaulted ceilings with bands, and the round chancel arch has a coffered soffit. The chancel displays Ionic over Doric pilastrades and a north arch leading to the organ loft, with intersecting ribs on the apse vault. The nave has galleries on three sides, cut back to the east, supported by a Doric colonnade, entablature, balustrade, and an upper Ionic colonnade. There is a classical reredos and altar rail, a high pulpit on five columns with an attached colonnade, and an octagonal font with a cornice and canopy resembling an open cupola with a side opening. The church also contains some stained glass and encaustic tiles.