Description

TL 85 NE GT. WELNETHAM STANNINGFIELD ROAD

5/109 Church of St Thomas
a Becket
14.7.55

I

Church, mediaeval, altered 1839 and 1883. Nave, chancel, north aisle, south
porch, north vestry. Rough-cast rendered flint rubble with limestone
dressings. Plaintiled roofs to nave and south porch, slated roofs to chancel,
aisle and vestry. The chancel has C13 work; 3 lancets in the north wall,
simple double-bowl piscina, and triple-arched sedilia with shafts having
moulded capitals and bases, a dado moulding on north and south walls. The nave
possibly rebuilt early C14; the west parapet gable has ball-flower carving to
the kneelers and quatrefoil west window; north (blocked) and south doorways
have simple mouldings and rear segmental arch with hoodmould, the
counterboarded south door possibly original; south 2-light window and double
bowl piscina; north arcade of 2 bays, with octagonal piers having moulded
capital and base (the north aisle demolished before 1829 and rebuilt 1839). The
south chancel doorway inserted early C14. 2 2-light windows inserted into
chancel south wall C15. The nave clerestory formed and roof rebuilt c.1500,
with principal rafters, butt purlins, arch-braced collars and wall-pieces;
clerestory windows of one light, rendered. Simple timber-framed south porch
added c.1500, with coupled rafter roof; also chancel 4-light east, and 2-light
south windows. The ceiled coupled rafter roof to chancel possibly mediaeval.
Weatherboarded belfry added to west end of nave roof 1749, with slated pyramid
roof, modillion eaves and weathervane, "at the cost of James Merest". During
alterations of 1839, a probably C12 chancel arch with later sidelights was
replaced by a large unmoulded arch; a C14 stone tracery panel was taken from
the north sidelight and reset as a window in the porch wall. Some stone
cusping, c.1300, now reset in the C15 clerestory windows. C15 octagonal
limestone font with traceried panels on bowl. A moulded C16 oak door reused
and repaired for C19 vestry. C20 octagonal pulpit has some reused carved C16
panels. A window in the south chancel wall is filled with mediaeval glass of
several dates, reset at random; fragments of similar glass reset in other
windows. 3 mural tablets in the chancel: to Richard Gipps, d.1660; to Charles
and Elizabeth Battely, d. 1722 and 1752; to Revd. Thomas Lord, d.1788.

Listing NGR: TL8781359343

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526772

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

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
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  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record