Parish Church Of St Peter And St Thomas

Parish Church of St Peter and St Thomas

This is a parish church of late 11th-century date with substantial later additions. The walls are constructed of flint and pebble rubble with dressings of limestone, clunch and Roman brick, roofed with handmade red clay tiles and lead.

The western tower is late 11th-century in date, square and unusually massive, rising in three stages that are undivided externally. The quoins are partly of Roman bricks and partly of limestone. The parapet is crenellated with two grotesque gargoyles on the south side and one on the north. The upper part of the northwest angle has been reconstructed with ashlar, and vertical cracks in the north and south walls have been stitched with limestone blocks. The tower-arch is a stilted semi-circular form, plain in character, with enriched imposts on the responds featuring dogtooth and billet on the north side and simple reeding on the south. In the lower stage, the north and south walls contain blocked loops composed of Roman bricks and opus signum. The late 14th-century west window has two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a segmental-pointed head. The second stage has in both south and west walls two 11th-century windows with jambs and semi-circular heads of two orders of Roman brick, now with 19th-century stone lights. The north wall has a similar window of one order east of the centre line. The bell-chamber contains in each wall one 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head.

The nave dates from the 14th century and features an early 15th-century north arcade of three bays. The two-centred arches are of two orders, the outer moulded and the inner chamfered, with octagonal columns having moulded capitals and bases. The responds have attached half-columns. In the south wall is a late 15th-century window of four cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head, the external reveals and label moulded. Further west is the 14th-century south doorway with moulded jambs, two-centred arch and label. The roof is plastered in seven cants, with three roll-moulded tiebeams set on wall-pieces with arch braces. The spandrels are carved with foliage, with one tiebeam severed for the chancel arch.

The chancel dates from the late 15th century. The east window has five cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head, moulded external reveals and label. In the north wall is a four-centred arch of two hollow-chamfered orders with moulded responds and semi-circular shafts with moulded capitals. The east capital is carved with a helm, mantling and shield of arms for MacWilliam. Further east is a square-headed squint. The south wall contains two windows, each of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head. The sill of the more easterly is carried down to form a seat. Between them is a doorway with chamfered jambs, four-centred arch, moulded label and chamfered two-centred rear-arch. Two piscinae are present: one to the east of the more easterly window with four-centred head and missing drain, and another in the west splay of the same window with trefoiled head and remains of drain. The chancel arch is two-centred with two moulded orders on the west side and two chamfered orders on the east side. The chamfered responds have each a semi-octagonal shaft with moulded capital and base. The roof, dating from the early 16th century, is in three bays with moulded purlins and principals, arch-braced to the collars, plastered above. The spandrels are carved with the legend "Espoir me confort" and the MacWilliam insignia.

The north aisle is 15th-century in date. In the north wall are two windows, each of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery under a four-centred arch, the external reveals and label moulded. Original wrought iron grills are present on the outside. Further west is the north doorway with jambs and four-centred arch of two moulded orders. The west wall contains a window similar to those in the north wall. The roof has shallow double pitch with roll-moulded principals and wallplates featuring spiral-leaf carving, roll-moulded joists with wooden panels. The spandrels are carved with foliage and shields, two bearing the MacWilliam motto "Espoir me confort".

The north chapel dates from the late 15th century. The north wall features a window and doorway uniform with those of the chancel. The door is original, constructed of two vertical planks with moulded fillet covering the join and planked horizontally inside, equipped with stock lock, pistol bolt and Suffolk latch. In the west wall is a four-centred arch of two continuously moulded orders with responds having moulded bases rebated for a former screen. The inner order has filled mortices for its horizontal members. South of the arch is a round-headed squint. The chapel is ceiled with roll-moulded beams and wallplates, with joists of horizontal section originally plastered to the soffits but now exposed, dating from the early 16th century.

The south porch dates from the mid-16th century and is mainly of brick, cement-rendered externally and plastered internally. The four-centred outer archway is of two orders, the outer arch hollow-chamfered externally and the inner arch moulded, resting on semi-octagonal attached shafts with moulded capitals. This stonework is early 15th-century in date and has been reset, with responds partly of brick. The east and west walls each have a 16th-century window of two pointed lights in a four-centred head with moulded label, all of brick.

There are five elaborately carved niches throughout the church: one in the east respond of the north arch of the chancel with cinquefoiled head and flanking buttresses; a pair in the nave in the east splay of the south wall window, one above the other, with vaulted canopies of tabernacle work, the lower niche with foliated pedestal and the upper with a shield of arms for MacWilliam; a similar but plainer pair in the north aisle in the east splay of the easternmost window. All date from the early 16th century. A stoup in the nave east of the south doorway has a rough ogee head with bowl cut away, dating from the 16th century.

A substantial area of early 16th-century glass survives in the east window of the chancel, showing a kneeling figure of a woman at a prayer desk with heraldic mantle charged with the coat of MacWilliam and tunic with the arms of Hartishorn, and a kneeling figure of a man in armour with tabard charged with the arms of MacWilliam and Englowes. Additional shields of arms are hung on trees or held by figures. Fragments in the southwest window of the chancel include a thumbscrew badge and white rose.

The chancel contains floor-slabs to Colonel John Farewell, deputy-governor of the Tower, dated 1710, and to M.H., dated 1816. The church has five bells: the first cast by Thomas Draper of Thetford in 1583, and the second, fourth and fifth by Henry Pleasant in 1705. The font has a stem with traceried and cinquefoiled panels dating from the late 15th or early 16th century, with a 19th-century bowl. The pulpit is semi-hexagonal with plain panels, dating from the early 18th century, with the stem made up from early 17th-century panelling.

The church underwent restoration in the 19th century.