Church Of St Thomas A Becket

The Church of St. Thomas a Becket is an Anglican parish church. Its origins lie in the early 12th century with a nave and arcades, followed by the addition of a mid-13th century chancel. The building underwent renovations in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was restored in 1845-6 by T. H. Wyatt and D. Brandon, and again in 1904 by Medlicott. The church is constructed from roughly chequered flint and limestone, with Welsh slate roofs and tiles to the conical tower roof.

The church comprises a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, a central tower, a south porch, and a north vestry (the latter two dating from 1845). The south porch is gabled with a coped verge and diagonal buttresses, featuring a pointed doorway with a hoodmould and foliated terminals. The south aisle has 19th-century square-headed windows with two lights and quatrefoils, along with a plain parapet. A clerestory is provided with two 19th-century quatrefoils. The 2-stage tower is buttressed, with a 17th-century round-arched window with a relieving arch on the ground floor, a lancet with a shutter to the left and a bell stage featuring a moulded offset and louvred round-arched lancet, completed by a 17th-century conical tiled roof with a plain 19th-century parapet. The south side of the chancel displays a small low lancet to the left, a pointed chamfered doorway, two lancets to the right, and, at the east end, diagonal buttresses and three 14th-century lancets with ogee trefoil heads. The north side of the chancel also has two lancets and a small low lancet to the right. The north side of the tower has a 19th-century 2-light window in a 16th-century style, and a square-headed window to the bell stage. A lean-to 19th-century vestry features a pointed door with foliated terminals and a 2-light window in a 16th-century style. The north aisle is characterised by a 3-light window in a 16th-century style with lancets on either side; the clerestory features two quatrefoils. The west end has diagonal buttresses and a trefoiled lancet to the north aisle and a 3-light Perpendicular-style window to the nave.

Inside, a 15th-century inner south doorway is framed by a double-chamfered Tudor arch, with an ogee-headed niche above. The 3-bay nave has a 19th-century king-post roof with arch-bracing to the principals, supported by corbels. A round-arched arcade is set on square chamfered piers with plain capitals. A 14th-century ogee-headed piscina is located on the south wall, and a pointed doorway leads to the vestry in the north aisle. Double-chamfered pointed arches provide access to the base of the tower from the nave and chancel, featuring square chamfered responds. The chancel has a 17th-century collar and tie-beam roof. Stone floors are present throughout. Fittings include a cylindrical stone font with zigzag carving dating back to around 1100 in the north aisle. An 18th-century communion rail with turned balusters, a stone pulpit, and north aisle pews from 1845 are also present. Royal Arms from 1805 are situated above the arch to the tower from the nave. Two wall tablets are housed in the tower, both pedimented with carved aprons; one commemorates Margaret Edwards, who died in 1755, and the other Rev. John Edwards, who died in 1782. Classical marble tablets in the nave commemorate Richard Norris (died 1826), Margaret Hayward (died 1846), and Mary Lawes (died 1834), the latter signed by Osmond of Sarum. Records suggest that a Saxon church may have existed on the site prior to the current structure.