Church Of St Thomas Of Canterbury

Parish church with Norman origins, rebuilt in the 15th century, with the north aisle added and nave re-roofed in the late 15th century. The vestry was added in 1869 according to Cresswell, and the chancel is a complete rebuild of the same time. The south porch was rebuilt in 1871. Further renovation in 1888 by Packham, Croote and Stuart included scraping and repointing the masonry, exposing and repairing the roofs, and some window replacement. A 1955 restoration was carried out by Lieutenant Colonel Bertram Shore.

The original fabric is mudstone rubble with granite, red sandstone and volcanic ashlar detail. The 19th-century work uses snecked mudstone masonry with red sandstone, Hamstone and Bathstone detail. The roofs are slate with crested ridge tiles on the north aisle. The church comprises a nave with smaller and narrower chancel, north aisle and vestry, west tower and south porch. The style is Perpendicular throughout.

The Tower

The tall west tower has three stages with diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet. A semi-octagonal stair turret projects from the south-east corner with its own embattled parapet. Four bold drip courses are carried round the stair turret and buttresses, rising as hoodmoulds over the doorway and window on the west side. The belfry windows are replaced red sandstone, all two lights with trefoil heads and a quatrefoil in the arched head.

The west side of the tower has a 15th-century doorway with a two-centred arch, moulded surround and roll stops, containing a 19th-century studded plank door with plain heavy hinges. Above is a tall three-light window with restored Perpendicular tracery and a drip course at sill level (this drip course appears only on this side). A late 19th-century carved gargoyle water spout sits at the top on the north-west corner.

The south side has an unusual and very weathered sandstone niche in the lower stage which now contains a 19th-century statue of St Thomas à Becket, and in the middle stage a two-light window to the ringing loft similar to the belfry windows but of volcanic stone and original. The stair turret has tiny slit windows and one quatrefoil light. The east face of the tower shows evidence of an earlier higher roof than the present one.

Exterior: South Side and Chancel

The south side of the nave is much restored. A renewed Bathstone window at the left end is square-headed and two lights with cinquefoil heads and hoodmould. Towards the right end is a much-restored arch-headed window with Perpendicular tracery. The 19th-century porch has Bathstone quoins, kneelers and coping to the gable end, an outer flat arch with moulded surround, and lancets either side. At the right (east) end of the nave is a volcanic and red sandstone offset buttress which has been reduced in height, possibly 15th-century work. The gable end of the nave is slate-hung above the chancel.

The chancel itself is wholly 19th century. The south side has two two-light Perpendicular windows with a buttress between them. The east end has diagonal buttresses each side, kneelers and coping to the gable which is surmounted by a fleuree cross. It contains a large three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and moulded hoodmould with large labels carved as bishops' heads, and near the apex a trefoil-headed ventilator. Set into the bottom of the wall is a plaque recording the 1955 restoration by Lieutenant Colonel Bertram Shore (Architect), Harry Partridge (master builder) and Michael Tucker (master mason). The north side of the chancel has two lancets.

Exterior: North Side

The east end of the north aisle and gable end of the vestry have the same kneelers, coping, cross and ventilator as the chancel. The former contains a three-light Perpendicular window and the latter a three-light Decorated window. On the east side of the vestry is an arched door containing a plank door with Gothick cover strips and strap hinges with fleur-de-lis finials. On the north-west corner is a large chimney shaft supported by an offset buttress.

Immediately to the right of the vestry, the break between the 19th-century rebuild and the 15th-century north aisle can clearly be seen. The north aisle nevertheless has a heavily restored three-window front of tall square-headed three-light windows with elliptical heads, sunken spandrels and moulded hoodmoulds. The original granite heads survive with renewed mullions. There are restored buttresses between and a chamfered granite plinth. The west end has been restored in the style of the 19th-century rebuild of the east end.

Interior

The interior is exceptional. The tiled floor of the porch includes a 17th-century granite gravestone with a sunken border and bold lettering rising from it reading "God rest the soul of John Killan".

The 15th-century south doorway is a granite two-centred arch with moulded surround and roll stops. It contains an ancient studded oak door thought by some to be Norman. The cover strips are 19th century but the massive plain strap hinges, the other iron fittings and the large oak lock housing are original. Above the south door is a semi-circle of voussoirs which may be a blocked Norman arch.

The Roofs

The nave has a very fine late 15th-century wagon roof, now open but formerly ceiled. It has eight bays with main trusses with moulded ribs and purlins, large carved bosses, carved vine leaf wall plate, and angels bearing heaters standing on shaped corbels under each main truss. The two bays nearest the chancel have a ceilure; the panels are boarded and there are diagonal cross braces, crestwork around the panels and on the wall plate, the bosses are richer, and the whole is finished with paint and gold leaf.

The eleven-bay wagon roof to the north aisle is similar but not quite as grand as the nave roof. Here too the original ceiling has been removed. The chancel has a four-bay 19th-century roof with false hammer beam trusses with moulded archbraces and cusped queen struts above the collar. There is a similar roof to the vestry.

Arcades and Arches

The moulded chancel arch sits on corbels. The high tower arch has a triple-chamfered arch ring dying into plain sides. The stair turret projects into the south-west corner and includes a granite arch containing a 15th-century oak studded plank door. The late 15th-century four-bay granite arcade to the north aisle has moulded piers (Pevsner's Type A) with moulded capitals to shafts only and wide low arches. The nave and aisle walls have been stripped of plaster and much restored. There is a large crank-headed arch to the 19th-century vestry. 19th-century tile floors run throughout with some patterned encaustic tiles in the chancel.

The Rood Screen

The late 15th-century eight-bay oak rood screen across both nave and aisle is well-preserved and amongst the finest in the country. It has Pevsner's B Type Perpendicular tracery over panelled wainscotting with applied ogival tracery and lower quatrefoils. The ribbed coving over the arches is enriched with carved Renaissance motifs, and above this the cornice is covered by four friezes of densely carved openwork foliage and delicate cresting. The chancel door has been rehung and the door to the former north chapel is missing. The bay to the left of the chancel door had its mullion removed in the 17th century to accommodate a reading desk and a lintel with lobe decoration was inserted. The rear of the screen is less decorated.

There is a contemporary oak three-bay parclose. The east bay of wainscotting has an applied strip of chip-carved oak with four trefoil heads, and four-light square-headed windows with slender Perpendicular tracery and round-headed door.

Seating

Most of the seating comprises 15th-century oak benches. There are two distinct types but both are 15th century. The earlier benches, now to the south of the nave and north of the aisle, have moulded surrounds to bench ends with boldly carved panels, either tracery or rigidly symmetrical plant motifs.

The later 15th-century benches, mostly in the middle of the nave and aisle, include original rear benches and frontal with a colonnade of flamboyant Perpendicular applied tracery and lower quatrefoils. The bench ends have carved foliage frames and similar tracery to two panels. These contain a variety of carved motifs in matching pairs arranged on heaters, sometimes heraldic achievements, plant symbols, human faces and some allegoric, such as symbols of the Passion. One features the initials of the Saint John family who held the manor and advowson from 1430 to circa 1490. There are some 19th-century benches to the rear.

Other Furnishings

Other furnishings are all 19th century. There is an oak handrail on wrought iron supports with repoussé vine leaf brackets. The Gothic-style Beerstone stem pulpit has an octagonal drum and marble shafts to the arcade and is dated 1860, the gift of Henry Kelland. The oak lectern dates from 1884. The font is Perpendicular Gothic-style Beerstone.

A single plain marble mural monument to James Wills Patridge (died 1836) is on the south wall. The east window and south window have stained glass memorial windows, both to the Kelland family and made by Beer and Driffield in 1888-9. The north windows have attractive late 19th-century leaded glass in which geometric patterns are made up of small panes of coloured translucent glass with simple flowers in the heads.