Church Of St Thomas

Church of St Thomas, Bedhampton

Parish church of 12th-century date, extended in the 14th century. The chancel was restored and a north vestry added in 1869-70 by Edward Augustus Gruning (1837-1908). The nave was restored and a north aisle added in 1878, again under Gruning's direction. The vestry was extended in 1993.

The church is built of flint and rubble with ashlar quoins and has red tile roofs. The plan comprises a nave with a north aisle and south porch, a chancel, and a vestry infilling the north-east angle between the aisle and chancel.

The west window is of early 14th-century style, with three cinquefoiled lights and may have been re-set. The south elevation of the nave features a late 14th-century moulded arch to the doorway, with contemporary two and three-light windows either side, each with trefoiled lights and tracery. At the east end of the south wall is a round-headed low side window with a segmental rear-arch, which would have lit an altar in the nave, and above it a narrow square-headed window that would have lit the rood-loft. The north aisle has a re-used late 14th-century two-light window similar to that on the south side of the nave. The chancel contains an east window of three trefoiled lights with two quatrefoils in the head, dating to around 1370, and north and south windows of the same date with square heads and two-light trefoiled tracery. The south wall also has a square-headed window of two shouldered lights, probably of 13th-century date, and a square-headed low side window to its west. A mass clock (scratch dial), one of three originally on the south elevation, remains visible on the face of the buttress between the nave and chancel; these were medieval forms of sundial to mark out mass times. The north vestry contains a re-used trefoiled 14th-century light.

A west bellcote of 1878 replaced a wooden belfry; the corbelled base on the east face appears to be of earlier date. It contains one bell by Clement Tosier, dated 1688. The nave and chancel have diagonal buttresses.

Internally, the nave roof has plain tie-beams and trussed rafters. A three-bay arcade dates from 1878. While no traces of the south nave altar remain, a 15th-century niche on the north of the chancel arch marks the site of a corresponding north altar of the nave. Above the west jamb of the south doorway is a stone corbel which may have carried a beam supporting a west gallery removed in 1869-70. The font, positioned near the south door, was part of the 1869 restoration and was designed and presented by Mr Cox of Warblington House. It has a square bowl with a central and four angle pillars of 12th-century style, the angle pillars being of yellow marble, and incorporates a Norman bowl and stem found in the rectory garden.

The church's most significant feature is the semi-circular, slightly depressed chancel arch of approximately 1140. The arch is of square section except for a thick roll-moulding on the west side, and has two outer bands of flat relief decoration: one in double lozenge pattern and the other with two bands of sawtooth pattern. The responds have inset shafts with scalloped capitals on their west angles. The abacus has a hollow chamfer below and is continued as a string on the west face; on the east face of the south respond are parts of a string of different section, perhaps not in situ. In the south-east angle of the chancel is a 15th-century cinquefoiled piscina with a stone shelf. A wall monument to Reverend St John Alder, who died in 1864, shows two angels in relief holding an unfurled banner with inscription within a moulded trefoiled recess. Two attractive tablets of around 1780 and around 1800 are positioned high on the west chancel wall above the arch, with pediments and urns.

Although there are no accurate records of the church's original dedication, tradition holds it to have been founded in 1132. The oldest parts are the chancel arch of approximately 1140 and the lower parts of the south and west walls, which may date from the same period. The chancel appears to have been rebuilt in the 13th century and probably lengthened around 1360-70. The line of the north wall has probably not been altered, though the wall may contain older masonry in its western portion.