Church Of St Thomas The Apostle

The Church of St Thomas the Apostle is a medieval church with exceptional 17th-century and early 19th-century rebuilding campaigns. Its origins lie in the 13th century when Cowick Priory founded a chapel on the west side of Exe Bridge, later rebuilt on this site with a consecration in 1412, which is perhaps the date of the arcades. The church was burnt in a fire during the Civil War in 1645 and much rebuilt by 1657, including the west tower. The north aisle was much rebuilt in 1821. Major east end additions were undertaken by Andrew Patey in 1828–9, followed by internal refitting in 1842 and a restoration by John Hayward in 1871. A southwest vestry was added by 1909.

The church is built of sandstone rubble with some volcanic stone and limestone dressings. Buttresses in the eastern parts are rendered, while west walls of eastern parts are slate-hung. The roofs are slate. The plan consists of a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, west tower, north porch, north and south transepts, south chapel, north organ chamber, and southwest vestry.

Exterior

The church presents its north elevation to the main road. The dominant features are the west tower and the north transept, representing the two key building campaigns of the mid-17th century and 1828–9 respectively—both quite unusual dates in English church-building. The tower is rectangular (longer north-south), slender and tall, with diagonal buttresses and a demi-octagonal stair-turret at the northeast. It has two quite plain, unequal stages (the upper taller). The west window is of three lights with standard Perpendicular tracery. The upper stage has small, two-light square-headed belfry windows. There is an embattled parapet and crocketed corner pinnacles.

The south aisle was much rebuilt in the 17th century and has no parapets. Its windows are of three lights, square-headed with simple cusping, renewed at Hayward's restoration. The north aisle and porch are largely the work of 1821. Its three large pointed windows have three-light Perpendicular tracery and were designed by Hayward. A fourth window to the east is small with grid-like mullions and a transom that looks like a simple 17th-century design, yet is not shown on a pre-1820s picture of the church. Most or all of the aisle windows were renewed by Hayward. The rudimentary north aisle parapet of 1821 rises without any articulation from the wall. The inner doorway on the north has 14th-century moulding and is perhaps reused.

The eastern parts of the church are tall and contrast with the rest of the building. Their three slate-hung gables abutting the nave and aisles appear as though the intention was to continue the work further west at a later date. The transepts are impressive examples of pre-Victorian Gothic. The north and south elevations have three-light Perpendicular windows above which is a large circular window with ornate, richly cusped tracery based on four circles with triangles in their centres. At the sides are rendered diagonal buttresses which rise to pinnacles, between which is an embattled parapet. The rest of the east end is also embattled, and the angles of the components are marked by diagonal buttresses—rendered like those on the transepts. The windows are Perpendicular apart from the east window, which is of five lights and contains Geometrical tracery.

Interior

The walls are plastered and whitened. The nave and aisles are of five bays and the arcades are probably medieval survivals. They consist of plain double-chamfered arches, octagonal piers and capitals. The nave is covered with a ceiled roof of keel shape, divided into large square panels by ribs. The south aisle ceiling is semi-circular and is divided into rectangular panels. The transepts are tall, which is accounted for by the fact that they were designed to accommodate galleries. There are two tall arches with moulded heads and clustered column piers on either side of the chancel. The chancel ceiling is pointed but flatter than that in the nave and is divided into rectangular panels.

Principal Fixtures

At the east end is a reredos with delicate Gothic canopies and pinnacles which, like the stone altar with traceried front beneath, dates from 1842. To the north is a late medieval-style canopied table tomb to Christina Medley (died 1845), wife of the first vicar, John Medley, who is depicted as a recumbent figure with her hands clasped. It was designed and executed by the London sculptor John Bacon Junior.

Also from the 1840s is the font (1842), a very richly treated piece in Beer stone similar to the font installed by Medley at St Andrew's, Exwick. It is octagonal and has ornate ogee arches on the bowl and much crocketing, quatrefoil work and an inscription round the top.

The wooden lectern is an important medieval piece dating from the 14th century and was brought here from the cathedral about 1840. It is of great importance as the earliest surviving cathedral lectern. It is much restored but its three-sided stand is original, has nodding ogee arches and, at the base, three dogs. A large eagle stands on the support, its neck outstretched.

In the north aisle is a family pew of 1838 for the Graves-Sawle family, which has a wooden vault with elaborate heraldic decoration. The main open bench seating is of much interest, dating from the 1842 campaign and is a very early example of this type of Victorian seating. Some of the seats bear the names of the occupants (Franklyn and Cleve families), something that survives very rarely.

The royal arms at the west end date from 1682. The pulpit (circa 1903) is a traceried wooden piece and stands on a marble base; it probably dates from the 1870s restoration.

The church has many wall monuments. The largest is to Sir Thomas Northmore (died 1713) with a circular inscription flanked by two columns. It has two standing allegorical figures and two more (winged) reclining on a broken pediment. A similar monument is located over the north doorway (1740, illegible inscription).

Historical Context

A chapel was founded in the 13th century on the west side of Exe Bridge by Cowick Priory and later rebuilt on this site (consecration 1412) to serve the important settlement which grew up on the side of the river away from the city. The church was burnt in 1645 during the Civil War and much rebuilt by 1657. The church also underwent a major remodelling in the 1820s, which included rebuilding the eastern parts on an ambitious scale. Mid-17th-century and 1820s work on the scale of St Thomas's is quite unusual in English churches and thus gives the building special importance. The 17th-century work was altered in the 19th century, but the tower is essentially intact and is an important example of Gothic survival into the post-Reformation period.

The late 1820s work at the east end under Patey is unusually lavish for a parish church at this time. The light spaciousness of the chancel contrasts with the low, long nave and aisles as might be expected from the external appearance of the building. The refitting campaign under the Reverend John Medley in 1842 is also very significant. Medley was secretary of the newly formed (1841) Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society. The society was to do much to encourage the type of church architecture and fittings that were being vigorously promoted by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and the immensely influential Cambridge Camden Society. It was the first such society founded outside Oxbridge. Medley was also behind the building of the daughter church of St Andrew, Exwick, which the Cambridge Camden Society's influential journal, The Ecclesiologist, pronounced to be "the best specimen of a modern church we have yet seen." The fittings at St Thomas's are thus important precursors of the type of work that would become mainstream during the Victorian Gothic Revival.

Nothing is known of the medieval or 17th-century builders. Andrew Patey (died 1834) is said to have begun as a mason in Yorkshire before establishing himself as an architect in Exeter. His best work was the Fire Assurance Office in the High Street (1833, bombed 1942). He also rebuilt Dawlish church, 1824, and St Leonard, Exeter (the latter demolished). John Hayward (1808–91) was a leading church architect in Devon in the mid-19th century and was at the forefront of the ecclesiological revival as promoted by the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society. His practice was based in High Street, Exeter. He also designed the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter, built in 1865–6.