Description

MEMHEAD MAMHEAD PARK
SX 98 SW

5/319 Church of St Thomas

30.6.61

GV II*

Parish Church. Probably C13 or earlier in origin with surviving early windows in the
chancel, C15 3-bay north aisle, south transept (now the baptistry) probably C13 or
C14 but much altered, C15 tower. Red sandstone and grey limestone rubble and red
sandstone dressings and slate roofs.
Plan: Nave, chancel west tower, south transept and porch, 3-bay north aisle, north
vestry. Probably a C13 cruciform plan before C15 alterations added the north aisle
and tower. Sequence of C19 restorations; one before 1830 attributable to Salvin on
stylistic grounds; reseating of 1854 with Mackintosh as architect; conservative
restoration of 1915.
Exterior: Chancel with a 3-light C19 traceried east window; round-headed, probably
C12 north window with a deep internal splay, slightly pointed C13 lancet on the south
side and C15 and C16 2-light square-headed cusped window. The north aisle has a 3-
light east window with segmental arched lights, heavily repaired, and a C19 north
vestry with diagonal buttresses with repaired square-headed 2-light east window and a
3-light C19 north window with an eccentrically-detailed chimney. The south transept
has diagonal buttresses,a square-headed 3-light C19 east window with cusped lights a
and a C19 Perpendicular 3-light south window, the nave has a 2-light uncusped window
to the left of the gabled south porch which has a rounded chamfered outer door.
Battlemented west tower with a polygonal south-east stair turret and diagonal
buttresses. The west face has a chamfered granite rounded west doorway with a
heavily-repaired 3-light Perpendicular west window. 2-light belfry openings on all
4 faces with additional 2-light windows on the north and south faces.
Interior: Unplastered walls; chamfered chancel arch on corbels, plain tower arch;
apparently rebuilt arch into south transept; 3-bay C15 double-chamfered north arcade
with moulded capitals, the piers and capitals roughened as a key for plaster in which
the piers were encased in the early C19. C19 ceiled wagon to the nave and aisle with
moulded ribs and carved bosses; canted ceiled wagon to the chancel with ribs and
boses, painted with stars. Flat panelled ceiling with moulded ribs and bosses to the
tower undoubtedly by Salvin. The chancel has hagioscopes from the aisle and transept
and is rather plain with 1909 timber reredos carved with the crucifixion. 1914
timber drum pulpit with traceried panels and figures in niches; ;timber eagle lectern
with memorial date of 1904. C19 or recut octagonal font with a carved bowl, remains
of rood screen wainscot used as a screen to the south transept. Roodloft stair
doorway to the former loft in the south transept, rebated for a door. C19 tower
screen; nave benches of 1854 with doors and carved panels. A triptych in the north
aisle in an Italian Renaissance style may be Edwardian in date.
Monuments: Early C18 wall monument to Mary Leach, died 1715, in the chancel with an
open pediment. Large C19 wall monuments in the north aisle, commemorating Sir Robert
Lydstone Newman, died 1854, with a cusped arch with black marble shafts and a
portrait medallion. Gothic frame to wall monuments in nave to Rt. Hon. Wilmot
Vaughan, Earl of Lisburne, died 1820. Late C17 slate in the chancel commemorates
Peter Balle, died 1680.
Glass: An interesting collection. Fragments of medieval glass, including C13 or C14
grisaille, in the south window in the chancel. Some unusual armorial glass in the
north aisle, commemorating the Earls of Lisburne with memorial dates of 1755, 1800
and 1805. Early C19 roundels, probably reset, in the westernmost window of the nave.
East window in the transept, erected 1852, signed with the mark of Thomas Willement;
west window of north aisle with memorial date of 1894 signed A.L. Moore of London.
Armorial glass in the tower window with an inscription panel "Hanc fenestram ab ipso
tinctam Tho Willement dono dedit 1831, the date at which Willement was providing the
glass and plumbing at the adjacent Mamhead House (now Dawlish College, q.v.).

Listing NGR: SX9311780812

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535343

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
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  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback