Church Of St Thomas

Church of St Thomas, Mamhead

This parish church probably dates from the 13th century or earlier, though it underwent substantial alterations and restorations in the 15th century and later. The building is constructed of red sandstone and grey limestone rubble with red sandstone dressings and slate roofs.

The church plan comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, south transept (now serving as the baptistry), a 3-bay north aisle, and a north vestry. The original plan was probably cruciform in the 13th century before 15th-century alterations added the north aisle and tower. The church underwent a sequence of 19th-century restorations: one before 1830 attributable on stylistic grounds to Salvin; a reseating of 1854 with Mackintosh as architect; and a conservative restoration of 1915.

The chancel contains a 3-light 19th-century traceried east window, a round-headed north window probably of the 12th century with a deep internal splay, a slightly pointed 13th-century lancet on the south side, and a 15th- and 16th-century 2-light square-headed cusped window. The north aisle has a 3-light east window with segmental arched lights, heavily repaired, and adjoins a 19th-century north vestry with diagonal buttresses. The vestry has a repaired square-headed 2-light east window and a 3-light 19th-century north window, with an eccentrically-detailed chimney. The south transept features diagonal buttresses, a square-headed 3-light 19th-century east window with cusped lights, and a 19th-century Perpendicular 3-light south window. The nave has a 2-light uncusped window to the left of the gabled south porch, which is entered through a rounded chamfered outer door. The battlemented west tower has a polygonal south-east stair turret and diagonal buttresses. Its west face contains a chamfered granite rounded west doorway with a heavily-repaired 3-light Perpendicular west window. The tower has 2-light belfry openings on all four faces, with additional 2-light windows on the north and south faces.

The interior has unplastered walls. The chancel arch is chamfered on corbels, while the tower arch is plain. The arch into the south transept appears to have been rebuilt. The 3-bay north arcade dates to the 15th century and has double-chamfered sections with moulded capitals. The piers and capitals were roughened in the early 19th century to serve as a key for plaster in which they were encased. A 19th-century ceiled wagon with moulded ribs and carved bosses covers the nave and aisle. The chancel has a canted ceiled wagon with ribs and bosses painted with stars. The tower ceiling is flat, panelled with moulded ribs and bosses, and was undoubtedly designed by Salvin. The chancel contains hagioscopes from the aisle and transept and is relatively plain, featuring a 1909 timber reredos carved with the crucifixion. A 1914 timber drum pulpit with traceried panels and figures in niches stands in the church, along with a timber eagle lectern bearing a memorial date of 1904. An octagonal font, 19th-century or recut, has a carved bowl. Remains of the rood screen wainscot serve as a screen to the south transept. A roodloft stair doorway in the south transept is rebated for a door. A 19th-century tower screen divides the space, and nave benches of 1854 with doors and carved panels are present. A triptych in Italian Renaissance style in the north aisle may date to the Edwardian period.

The church contains several monuments. An early 18th-century wall monument to Mary Leach, died 1715, in the chancel has an open pediment. Large 19th-century wall monuments in the north aisle commemorate Sir Robert Lydstone Newman, died 1854, featuring a cusped arch with black marble shafts and a portrait medallion. Wall monuments in the nave are set in Gothic frames and commemorate the Rt. Hon. Wilmot Vaughan, Earl of Lisburne, died 1820. A late 17th-century slate in the chancel commemorates Peter Balle, died 1680.

The church contains an interesting collection of stained glass. Medieval glass fragments, including 13th- or 14th-century grisaille, survive in the south window of the chancel. Unusual armorial glass in the north aisle commemorates the Earls of Lisburne with memorial dates of 1755, 1800, and 1805. Early 19th-century roundels, probably reset, appear in the westernmost window of the nave. The east window in the transept, erected 1852, is signed with the mark of Thomas Willement. The west window of the north aisle bears a memorial date of 1894 and is signed A.L. Moore of London. Armorial glass in the tower window includes an inscription panel reading "Hanc fenestram ab ipso tinctam Tho Willement dono dedit 1831", dating to the period when Willement was providing glass and plumbing at the adjacent Mamhead House, now Dawlish College.