Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury is a Grade II listed building in the Cotswold local planning authority area, England. Church.
Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury
- WRENN ID
- last-lantern-martin
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Cotswold
- Constituency
- South Cotswolds MP: Dr Roz Savage (LD)
- Country
- England
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Fairford
- OS grid reference
- SP 152 005
- Coordinates
- 51.70307, -1.78017
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, built in 1845, is a Grade II listed building located in Fairford. The church is constructed from coursed limestone with freestone dressings and features a Welsh slate roof with stone coped gable ends and gableted kneelers. It has a single-cell plan, with the sanctuary separated from the nave by a chancel arch, a porch at the liturgical west end, and a vestry on the liturgical north side that connects the church to the presbytery. Designed in the Victorian Early English style, the exterior includes lancet windows on the north and south sides, with buttresses featuring set-offs between them. The east end has a triple lancet window with a small quatrefoil light above and a stone cross at the apex of the gable. A small stone bellcote sits over the west gable, which has two lancets and a small quatrefoil window above, along with a gabled stone porch that has a double-chamfered 2-centred arch. The vestry contains a 2-light shouldered arch window.
Inside, the church has plastered walls and an open braced collar-truss roof, with a tall 2-centred double-chamfered chancel arch. Notable features include a carved stone altar, statue niches flanking the east window, a wrought-iron Communion rail, and intact seating. The Rood has been removed from the chancel arch to the west wall, and there is an octagonal font. The stained glass is mostly from the 20th century. This church is a largely complete example of a small early Victorian Roman Catholic church, attached to a presbytery.
Local climate
Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury receives an average of 790 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 57% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 55% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 37 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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