Church Of St Thomas The Apostle

Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Harty

The Church of St Thomas the Apostle stands on the north bank of the Swale, in what is now a very isolated location, though Harty was once more important as a crossing point of the river with a ferry in use until 1946. The place is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086, though no church is mentioned at that date.

The building originates from the late 11th or early 12th century, with the nave and chancel as the earliest element. The north aisle was added around 1200, with a chancel built or rebuilt at the same time. A south porch also dates to the 13th century. Major renovation occurred in the late 14th or early 15th century, when the windows were renewed, buttresses added, and both a north chapel and a south chapel were added or rebuilt. Some earlier elements, including the chancel windows and the arch to the south chapel, may have been reset during this period. The church was restored in 1878–80 by the Canterbury diocesan architect Joseph Clarke, and has undergone some 20th-century restoration.

The church is built of stone rubble, mostly ragstone but including tufa, septaria and flint, with tiled roofs. It is a small, low building with a nave and chancel without structural division, a north aisle, north chancel chapel, north porch, and south nave chapel. A small belfry sits over the west end of the nave.

Externally, the nave and chancel roof ridge line is continuous, though all roofs are distinct. The north aisle is roofed with the nave under a catslide roof pitched too low for windows. The north and south chapels are taller with low-pitched roofs and two-light Perpendicular windows. The north porch is gabled with a 13th-century outer opening. A massive offset buttress occupies the centre of the west wall, with two further offset buttresses of differing forms on the south nave wall and south chapel. Perpendicular windows flank the central west buttress. A blocked south nave door has a four-centred head. The chancel has a Perpendicular east window, while the north wall contains a 12th-century round-headed window, and the south wall has a similar round-headed window with a square-headed low-side window to its west. A small weatherboarded belfry rises above the west end of the nave.

Inside, the church's 12th-century origins are more apparent. There is no chancel arch, but the mid-14th-century screen stands in its original position. A door and stair to the former rood loft occupy the north wall, with the door cutting an earlier aumbry recess. A fine late-14th-century image niche stands in the chancel. The south chapel opens through a 12th-century arch with chamfered imposts, possibly the original chancel arch reset. The two-bay north arcade of around 1200 comprises plain pointed arches with chamfered details; the central pier is formed from walling and has a partial, blocked 12th-century window above. Simple late-14th or 15th-century chamfered arches serve the north chapel. The belfry is supported by a massive, probably 15th-century frame at the west end with corner posts featuring diagonal and crossed braces.

The principal fixtures include a rood screen dating to around 1350–75, with square-headed lights filled with ogee tracery, plain lower panels, and a moulded cornice. The screen continues around the north chapel's east respond with original plain panelling, then across the north chapel itself. The rood loft is lost. The chancel contains a fine late-14th-century image niche with a nodding ogee, gabled and pinnacled frame showing traces of paint on the back; it stands on a 19th-century corbel. A second image niche appears in the south chapel, and a partial, rebated aumbry exists in the north chapel. A very fine carved chest or Flemish Kist of around 1375, decorated with a battle scene, survives; following its theft and return in 1987, a delicate metal screen was installed to close the south chapel.

The north and south chapels retain late medieval low-pitched roofs with moulded beams. The nave and chancel have 19th-century roofs, the nave roof featuring crown posts. A 19th-century timber pulpit with open tracery panels based on the screen design stands within. Plain 19th-century nave benches furnish the interior.

Only a few monuments remain, including two brasses: one in the nave for Habram Fare, died 1512, and another of 17th-century inscription in the north chapel. The church contains very good late 19th and 20th-century stained glass, notably a late-20th-century window depicting grazing sheep and another featuring an owl. Two pieces of medieval glass survive in the west windows. Royal arms of George II are displayed.

The churchyard contains three good chest tombs.