Description

WELLS

ST5446 ST THOMAS STREET
662-1/6/293 (South side)
13/09/72 Church of St Thomas

GV II*

Anglican parish church. 1856-7, extended 1864, by SS Teulon as
a memorial to Dean Richard Kenkyns. Local stone, squared and
banded in red and grey, with Doulting ashlar dressings, Welsh
slate roof with coloured diamond banding, coped gables.
PLAN/EXTERIOR: composite plan of 5-bay nave, same width
apsidal chancel, narrow north aisle and wide (1854) south
aisle, north porch, and north-east tower with spire
incorporating organ chamber, and vestry.
Plinth, sill band course all round.
Chancel a half duo-decagon on plan, with buttresses having 2
offsets on each angle, flanking 2-light Geometric style
traceried windows with arched head-stop labels, traceried
parapet.
Choir vestry on south to match (added 1926). South aisle has
2- and 3-light geometric traceried windows, with eaves
moulding featuring ball-flower ornament.
North aisle has gables with iron finials over each 2-light
traceried window, with a single-light window in the west wall.
Porch has a deeply moulded outer arch fitted with mid C20
glazed doors, side buttresses, and 3-bay arcading to each
side, with inner arch to match.
West elevation has a 5-light window to nave, and a 4-light
window to the south aisle.
The spire has a single-stage banded tower with a 3-light north
window and a clock in a gabled decorative recess. the corner
buttresses are extended into crocketed finials, with statues
of the four Evangelists on the corners.
Between these finials a 2-light trefoil-arched traceried open
window with stone grills, set under ornamental gables, small
gabletted vents halfway up sire, and pierced trefoil vents
near top, the 45m spire is capped with an elaborate iron
weathervane, octagonal stair turret in SE corner having
pitched roof.
INTERIOR: the roof frame is crown-post truss variant, with
ogee windbraces and coloured plaster infill panels, the
columns to the arcades relatively slim, with foliated
capitals, no dividing arch between nave and chancel. Wide use
of polychromy and stencilled decoration, extended reredos has
much elaborately carved pulpit and font, much of the furniture
including ornate lock to north door to Teulon's design. Green
tinted glass with patterned caning and vines drawn in outline.
A striking church with excellent detail, commanded externally
by the very fine octagonal spire; one of Teulon's more
harmonious compositions; Skidmore's tubular altar rails,
Wailes's glass, the mosaic glitter and coloured marble shafts
between the panels and the crocketed niches of the reredos,
together with the angel corbels provide a sumptuous effect.
(Saunders M: The Architectural Outsiders: London: 1988-).

Listing NGR: ST5560346168

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Thomas at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17553160

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)