Ruins Of The Chapel Of St Thomas Becket

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.