Church Of St Thomas Of Canterbury

The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury is a parish church dating from the 12th century, with later alterations, particularly an apse constructed around 1887 by Ben Corser of Birmingham. The church is primarily built of flint and stone rubble with stone dressings, and has a pebbledash render on the left side, covered by a plain tile roof. It comprises a three-bay nave, a north aisle, a chancel, an apse, and a west tower.

The west porch contains a 19th-century double-ribbed door of Perpendicular style, with a gabled roof. To the left and right of the porch are two-light windows with reticulated tracery, and a three-light window with intersecting tracery is situated to the left. The west tower has a Romanesque lancet window at its base. Above this, a round-arched surround features paired Romanesque lancets, surmounted by a two-light, louvred opening to the top stage, all framed by battlements. A stair turret is located to the right of the tower, with a square base and zig-zag moulding at the top, and a round upper stage with round openings beneath a conical stone roof.

The rear elevation has a plank door to a porch with a gabled plain tile roof, with projecting stone corbels below a stone string course, together with four Romanesque lancets and a stone chimney. The left return features three 19th-century Romanesque-style lancets with cushion capital columns supporting round arch surrounds.

Inside the church, a Romanesque round font sits beneath the west tower, and a Romanesque arch with columns and cushion capitals leads to the tower. A transitional arcade separates the nave and aisle. Medieval brasses are also present.

Historically, the church was built in the 12th century, associated with an Augustinian priory founded in Goring around the same time. The nuns of the priory originally extended the parish church, leading to the demolition of the original apse. Following the Dissolution, the priory church was demolished, and its east wall became the east wall of the parish church. The present apse was built on the original foundations in 1887. Stone corbels at the rear of the church once supported the roof of the priory cloister.