Ruins of the Chapel of St Thomas Becket is a Grade II* listed building in the Cornwall local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 June 1972. A Medieval Chapel.

Ruins of the Chapel of St Thomas Becket

WRENN ID
tired-slate-harvest
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Cornwall
Constituency
North Cornwall MP: Ben Maguire (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
8 June 1972
Type
Chapel
Period
Medieval
Address
Ruins of the Chapel of St Thomas Becket, Priory Road, Bodmin
OS grid reference
SX 073 670
Coordinates
50.47131, -4.7161
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The ruins of the Chapel of St Thomas Becket, a Grade II* listed building, are located on Priory Road in Bodmin. This chapel, which is now roofless, was licensed in 1377. It is constructed of local rubble with granite and freestone dressings and has a rectangular plan featuring a porch at the south side of the west end. The structure is a single storey above a crypt and has a five-bay buttressed south wall with the porch positioned on the left.

The porch includes a segmental-arched opening at the front and a similar inner doorway, with access via steps on the left-hand side. There are two pointed-arched windows on the south wall, both with hoodmoulds, along with four small crypt windows that have flat heads and relieving arches. The north wall mirrors the south with two pointed windows, all of which are grooved for glazing. The east wall boasts a large three-light late Decorated window featuring unusual tracery that transitions towards the Perpendicular style.

Inside, the chapel has pointed rere-arches, with the east window supported by a moulded arch on octagonal nook shafts. The south wall at the east end contains sedilia with three cinquefoil arches beneath pointed hoodmoulds and a square hoodmould above. To the left, there is an ogee-headed cinquefoil aumbry. Numerous carved fragments are scattered throughout, including what is likely a piscina, and there is a vaulted crypt. This chapel is a rare 14th-century building in Cornwall, and the decorated window tracery is particularly noteworthy for its rarity in the region.

Local climate

Ruins of the Chapel of St Thomas Becket sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,010 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 81% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 88% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 13 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 88% of listed buildings. Of these, 6 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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