Description

SUTTON UNDER BRAILES SP23NE 2/129 Church of St. Thomas Beckett 13/10/66 (Formerly listed as Parish Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury)

GV II*

Church. Late Cl2 origins. Early and late C13, C14 and C15 with some C16 alterations. Restored 1879. Coursed and squared, coursed rubble to chancel and nave, with ashlar tower and ashlar nave parapet. C20-tile chancel roof with slate nave roof. Chancel, nave and south tower. Chancel rebuilt early C13, with lengthening of late C13. 3 bays, with east chamfered plinth, offset angle buttresses and coped gable to east with C19 cross at apex. C13 hollow-moulded corbel table, with carved grotesques, and beast and human heads, To east a late C13 window of 3 stepped lancets and bar tracery of 3 cusped roundels. The lancets, tracery and pointed surround have edge roll-mould, the surround of 2 orders. Hood mould with human head labels. Small trefoil above window. To south wall a late C13 priests doorway of 2 hollow-moulded orders with broach stops. Pointed arch with ramped hood mould and labels. Relieving arch above. C19 plank door. Above right, to centre of south wall, a single-chamfered lancet with rounded hood mould and carved-head labels. To right a C13 window of lights with single trefoil tracery (now distorted). Hood-mould with carved head labels. To left of doorway a C15 square-headed window of 2 cusped ogee-headed lights. Hood mould with labels. To north wall left a late C13 window of 2 cusped and hollow-moulded lights with tracery within a hollow-moulded surround. Rounded hood-mould with carved head labels, To centre and right an early C13 lancet, that to centre with hood mould. Part C12 nave, rebuilt C15 and C19 of 3 bays with C15 clerestory. Crude plinth to north and offset buttresses, moulded string course and embattled parapet. To south, within tower, a restored C14 pointed doorway. C19 plank door. To right of tower a late C13 pointed window of 2 cusped lights and central quatrefoil within many-moulded surround. Hood mould. To left of porch a restored C15 window with C19 or C20 square head. To north wall a C12 semi-circular arched doorway with chamfered surround, hood mould and relieving arch. To left a window of c.1500 set in a shallow projection with a stone slate roof. The window is square-headed, with 3 depressed ogee-headed and cusped lights with mouchette tracery and moulded hood with labels. To north and south a C15 clerestory, that to north with 3 square-headed windows, each with 2 ogee-headed cusped lights. Hood mould with labels. Clerestory to south has 3 square-headed windows, that to left of tower with 2 lights. Window to centre has 2 depressed ogee-headed cusped lights. Window to right also has 2 depressed ogee-headed cusped lights but with mouchette tracery. Windows have hood moulds with labels. To rebuilt west wall a similar part-restored C15 square-headed window of 3 lights. Restored hood mould and labels. Above, a C19 cusped roundel. C14 south tower of 2 stages with moulded plinth, offset diagonal buttresses, string course dividing first and second stages and moulded corbel table with broken gargoyles. Coped parapet. To south a C14 pointed doorway with many-molded surround and hood mould with broken labels. Worn carving at apex of hood mould. C19 plank door. Within tower, to east, an square-headed window with single ogee-headed cusped light. Hood mould with labels. Above doorway, to south, a C14 square-headed window of 2 ogee-headed cusped lights with quatrefoil tracery and hood mould with labels. Single ogee-headed light to east. In north-west angle of tower a stair turret with ogee-headed loops rising to bell chamber level. C14 bell-chamber openings, each square-headed with 2 ogee-headed cusped lights and worn hood moulds with labels. Stone slate louvres. Interior: east window of chancel has moulded rere-arch with hood mould and carved head labels. Easternmost windows of north and south walls are similarly moulded, with hood molds and carved head and foliage labels. Central windows in north and south walls have hood mould and carved head and beast labels. Westernmost window in north chancel wall has hollow-chamfered rere-arch. To east wall, flanking east window a moulded corbel. To north wall a further carved head corbel. Square niche below easternmost window. To south wall a C13 cusped, hollow-moulded piscine, with bowl supported by a worn carved head. C13 chancel arch, probably rebuilt late C19, of 2 chamfered orders, the inner order with moulded bases and imposts. At apex of hood mould, to west, a carved pair of heads. All nave windows have chamfered rere-arches, and the window of c.1500 to north has stone projections against each splay. Beneath chamfered sill of easternmost window in south wall a small piscina with shouldered-arch head, Stair turret doorway, to west of main south doorway, has chamfered, pointed surround and hood mould with labels. C19 chancel roof supported on moulded corbels. C19 nave roof with traceried spandrels supported on C15 moulded corbels. Further corbels to east, that to north a carved bearded head. C19 stained glass in south chancel windows. Two C19 wall tablets in chancel walls, with further wall tablet in south nave wall dated 1803. (V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.5, pp.157-159; Buildings of England: Warwickshire, pp.429-450).

Listing NGR: SP2988937414

External Links

• Wikidata Q17551064

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Recommended Books

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)