Church Of St Thomas By Launceston

The Church of St Thomas-by-Launceston is a priory church that dates back to 1482, built on the site of a former Augustine Priory. It was restored in 1871. The church is constructed from dressed volcanic stone, greenstone, and granite, with dry Delabole slate roofs featuring central ventilators. There is an octagonal stone stack on the west gable of the south aisle and a moulded stack on the north gable of the transept.

The layout includes a nave and chancel, a west tower, a south aisle, and a south porch, with a 19th-century north transept. The north wall was rebuilt, and the entire structure was re-roofed in 1871. The slender two-stage unbuttressed embattled tower has slate louvres in the upper stage, with strings and a squat leper window where the usual west doorway is located. The chancel features three 15th-century three-light traceried windows, while the south wall of the south aisle has three such windows, and there is a five-light window to the west of the aisle. Most other windows are 19th-century traceried, except for a three-light window in the north transept with segmental-arched lights. A roodstair projects from the south wall, next to a moulded basket-arched priests' doorway.

The porch has a crucifix finial above a square hood over a 15th-century doorway, with carved fragments, including a Catherine wheel, to the right of the doorway. Inside, the walls are plastered, with a fragment of wall painting at the east end. The church features a 15th-century five-bay Standard A arcade, with arch-braced and wind-braced roofs added in 1871. There is a trefoil-headed aumbry in the south wall of the chapel in the south aisle. Notable fittings include a large Norman font with a square bowl, an octagonal shaft, and a round base; some old coloured glass; early 16th-century linenfold screens in the tower and inside the south door; and a bell from 1745 that was recast in 1911. The church also has a 19th-century carved octagonal pulpit and other 19th-century fittings.