Church of St Thomas

Church of St Thomas

A parish church in the geometrical style, comprising a nave with a south aisle, a lower and narrower chancel, a south chapel, a north organ chamber and a southeast vestry. The building is constructed of snecked, rock-faced stone with freestone dressings, and has a slate roof behind coped gables on moulded kneelers. The walls are buttressed with shallow clasping buttresses at the angles.

The three-bay nave is entered from the north side. It has two three-light windows and a porch in the right-hand bay. The porch has a pointed doorway with half nook shafts and inner roll moulding, and double boarded doors with strap hinges. Its west side wall contains a three-light mullioned window. The north doorway to the nave has similar doors within a pointed roll-moulded surround. At the northeast end of the nave is a round bell turret with lancet openings to the bell stage and a steep conical roof.

The west side of the nave has two two-light windows and a cusped round window above, all spanned by a single relieving arch. A similar two-light west window appears in the aisle. The south wall of the aisle has broad, square-headed four-light windows with pointed lights and sunk spandrels. The south chapel has three stepped lights to its south window and a boarded door under a pointed head in the west wall. Attached to its east side is the vestry, which has a roof concealed behind a parapet. It has two two-light east windows and a boarded north door under a shouldered head, and projects beyond the east end of the chancel. The chancel has single-light north and south windows and three stepped lights to the east under separate hood moulds. The lower organ chamber has two north windows under a cusped round window, and in the east wall a boarded door under a shouldered head.

The interior has rock-faced walls and Bath stone dressings. The nave contains a three-bay south arcade with double-chamfered two-centred arches on round piers and responds. The roof consists of three main bays with a half bay at the west end, with arched-brace trusses on corbels and windbraces. The two-centred chancel arch is carried on corbelled capitals. In the chancel, segmental pointed arches lead to the south chapel and north organ chamber, both double-chamfered and dying into the imposts.

The east end is elaborately treated. The rere arch to the east window has ringed shafts and a sill band with foliage frieze directly below the window. A mosaic reredos dated 1876 depicts the Crucifixion and is flanked by decorative-tile panels. The chancel floor is laid with decorative tiles. In the south wall are double sedilia with pointed arches, and on the north side is a cusped aumbry. The south chapel is entered through a segmental-pointed arch from the south aisle and has a doorway with shouldered head to the vestry.

The octagonal freestone font has quatrefoils around the bowl with inset motifs in marble including the Star of David and IHS monogram. Its stem has attached shafts with broad foliage capitals and an octagonal base. The pews and pulpit are simple, and the communion rails have iron uprights with scrolled brackets to a moulded wooden rail.

A wall monument by Daniel Mainwaring of Carmarthen, salvaged from the previous church and reset above the north door when the new church was built, commemorates the Reverend Edward Picton (died 1835). In classical style, it has fluted pilasters and entablature surmounted by a closed urn.

The church contains several windows with stained glass. All the chancel windows are of around 1882. The east window depicts scenes from the Life of Christ including the crucifixion and ascension, by Burlison & Grylls. The south window, by the same firm, shows St Mary. The north window depicts St Thomas and commemorates the architect of the church. In the nave, the window on the east side of the north wall shows New Testament scenes, dated around 1884. To its left is a window by AL Moore of London, commemorating Glanmor Williams, killed in the Boer War in 1900, depicting the 'Good and Faithful Servant' flanked by Saints George and David. In the south aisle, the central window by Janet Hardy dated 1991 depicts the church. To its left is a millennium window installed in 2002 showing the Virgin and Child. In the south chapel is an undated window by Celtic Studios of Swansea showing the Virgin and Child flanked by figures of Saints David and Ishmael.