Anglican Church Of St Thomas À Becket Church Of St Thomas Of Canterbury

This Anglican parish church, dedicated to St Thomas à Becket, is of Norman origin and dates largely from the 13th century. It features a 14th-century north arcade, a tower of 13th and 14th-century construction, a 14th-century porch, and 17th-century alterations. The church was restored in 1846 by R C Carpenter and again in 1889 by J D Sedding, the latter date appearing on a rainwater head.

The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with stone dressings. The nave and aisle have plain tiled roofs, while the porch and chancel are covered with stone tiles.

Exterior

The church follows the Early English style, with a late Decorated north window in the aisle. The three-stage west tower has a west door with a pointed arch, now infilled by a late 19th-century traceried three-light window beneath a relieving arch. The first stage on the south side has a pointed arched window with a stopped hood mould and relieving arch. The second stage contains small trefoil-headed lancets, with a blocked opening to the east (also with a relieving arch), and larger similar single lights with bell louvres to east and west, plus a clock face to the south. The third stage features large four-light windows with trefoil heads to the lights, four-centred arched heads, and bell louvres. The tower is reinforced by weathered diagonal buttresses and has moulded string courses, a renewed ashlar parapet with coping, crocketed pinnacles, and a cockerel weathervane. A stair turret rises at the north-east corner to the first and second stages. A single-storey flat-roofed 20th-century church room is attached to the north side of the tower.

The five-bay nave has two tall pointed-arched two-light windows with trefoil heads and stopped hood moulds on the left (south) side. The porch sits between these. To the right is a large rectangular six-light window with chamfered segmental heads and a hood mould. At upper level to the right is a small rectangular two-light window with trefoil heads, which formerly lit the rood loft. There is a buttress, and the eaves overhang on wooden corbels.

The gabled south porch is topped by a worn metal sundial as a finial. Its pointed arched opening has a roll-moulded and hollow-chamfered surround, with quoins and courses of freestone and similar eaves detailing. Inside, the porch has stone benches, a two-bay 19th-century roof with two rows of purlins and cambered collars, and a 19th-century studded door.

The north aisle exterior has a three-light pointed-arched east window with a stopped hood mould, relieving arch, and elongated trefoil heads. Along the north wall (from left) is a late Decorated three-light window composed of three pointed-arched lancets of decreasing size. The second bay from the right contains a blocked Norman door with a segmental head and surviving imposts, with two buttresses with gabled tops to the left.

The chancel has a three-light east window with a pointed arch and stopped hood mould, flanked by tall gabled buttresses on both sides. On the north side is a pointed-arched lancet, followed by a single-storey vestry with a lancet window, door, and buttress, and another gabled buttress to the left. The south side features a tall pointed-arched lancet with restored mask stops to the hood mould and a relieving arch, a two-light window with a quatrefoil in the upper section, and a gabled buttress to the right surmounted by a gargoyle, a carved man's head, and a cross finial.

Interior

Inside, a pointed-arched door leads to the tower, set within a surround of two chamfered orders with broach stops. The nave has an arched-brace and collar roof and a 20th-century south door with a triangular moulded head. All windows are set in deeply splayed reveals. The second window from the west has jamb shafts with moulded capitals to the opening, with similar jamb shafts to the window itself.

The 13th-century chancel arch has jamb shafts with stiff-leaf capitals and is fronted by a low stone choir screen from the 19th century. There is a squint to the left. The four-bay north arcade dates from the 14th century and features pointed arches with two chamfered orders, octagonal piers with moulded abaci, and broach-stopped bases.

The north aisle has a five-bay roof consisting of tie-beams, collars, and two rows of purlins. The lancet windows have rere-arches. The chancel roof comprises seven panels with moulded ribs and wall-plates. The north and south windows have rere-arches. The north door to the vestry has a pointed segmental head. The east window features jamb shafts with stiff-leaf capitals and similar stops to its hood mould. A piscina stands to the right.

Fittings and Glass

The fittings include a stone pulpit from 1846 by R C Carpenter. Carpenter also designed the 19th-century font in the nave, which has a round foliage-carved bowl set on shafts. The baluster font in the aisle probably dates from the 18th century.

The east window contains glass by Joseph Bell, installed in 1853. The east window in the aisle has glass by Clayton and Bell from 1886, while the south windows in the chancel are by Wailes from 1852. The Lady Chapel was refurnished in 1954 by Eustace H Button. A 14th-century stone tomb chest, reused as an altar in the Lady Chapel, has three carved cusped quatrefoils.

Monuments

The church contains several significant monuments. In the aisle is an effigy of a lady from around 1325, with a later flat-topped Perpendicular canopy. Above this rises a high ogee canopy with crockets and pinnacles, forming a rere-arch to the north-east window, said to have been erected in 1888. Also in the aisle is an effigy of a civilian male from around 1360, with a similar flat-topped canopy featuring ogee arches on either side, a battlemented moulding to the top, and Perpendicular panelling in the spandrels with fine carving. This couple may represent William de Cheltenham and his wife.

In the nave is a marble tablet with heraldry, putti, and an open segmental pediment commemorating John Dennis (died 1687) and other family members, and a marble tablet by Viner of Bath to Anne Archer (died 1822).

The aisle contains a large baroque marble tablet with weeping putti to Thomas Ridley (died 1714); a marble tablet with a draped urn by Jones, Dunn and Drewett of Bristol to Edward Hathway (died 1798); a large stone tablet with an epitaph on slate by Thomas Cam to an unnamed deaf woman, probably a relation; and a Renaissance black and white marble tablet with a Latin inscription to John Dennis (died 1638), attributed to Thomas Burnham. Various 17th and 18th-century ledger stones are found in both nave and aisle.

Historical Context

Archaeological evidence suggests Pucklechurch has Roman origins. It became an important settlement in the later Anglo-Saxon period, serving as the administrative, military, and judicial centre of the Hundred bearing its name. The settlement, once part of the ancient Forest of Kingswood, may have been a royal burh in the later Saxon period. It was certainly the site of Edmund, King of Wessex's hunting lodge; he was murdered at Pucklechurch in 946 AD, and his body was taken to Glastonbury Abbey for burial.

The manor of Pucklechurch was formally granted to Glastonbury Abbey in 950 AD and was subsequently transferred to Bath Abbey in the 13th century. After the Dissolution in the 16th century, the village underwent a phase of rebuilding and gentrification, with numerous large houses erected in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, indicating relative wealth during this period. A further phase of expansion and prosperity occurred from the mid-19th century when several collieries opened in the parish.

The parish church was founded in the Norman period, possibly as a royal foundation, but the current building dates largely from the 13th century. A north aisle and south porch were built in the 14th century, together with parts of the tower. A chantry, now the site of the Lady Chapel, was established by William de Cheltenham in 1337. Further alterations were made in the 17th century, coinciding with the increased prosperity of the settlement after the Dissolution. Two major phases of work occurred in the 19th century: the first by Richard Cromwell Carpenter (1812-1855) in 1846-56, and the second by John Dando Sedding (1838-91) in 1889. These campaigns included reordering, window replacement, the introduction of new fittings, and stained glass. Some further minor refitting took place in the 20th century.