Details
HAVANT
100/4/22 BIDBURY LANE
16-MAY-52 Bedhampton
Church of St Thomas
(Formerly listed as:
BIDBURY LANE
Bedhampton
CHURCH OF ST THOMAS A BECKET)
(Formerly listed as:
LOWER ROAD
Bedhampton
ST THOMAS' CHURCH)
II
Parish church. C12, extended in C14. Chancel restored and N vestry added 1869-70 by Edward Augustus Gruning (1837-1908). Nave restored and N aisle added 1878, again under Gruning. Vestry extended 1993.
MATERIALS: Flint and rubble with ashlar quoins. Red tile roofs.
PLAN: Nave with a N aisle and S porch; chancel; vestry infilling the NE angle between aisle and chancel
EXTERIOR: The W window is of early C14 style, with three cinquefoiled lights; possibly re-set. The S elevation of the nave has late-C14 moulded arch to doorway; to W and E of this are contemporary windows of two and three-lights respectively, each with trefoiled lights and tracery. At E end of S wall is a round-headed low side window with a segmental rear-arch, which would have lit an altar in the nave. Above this is a narrow square-head window which would have lit the rood-loft. N aisle has reused late C14 two-light window, similar to W window on S side of nave. The chancel has E window of three trefoiled lights, with two quatrefoils in the head, c1370, and N and S windows of the same date, with square heads and two-light trefoiled tracery. S wall also has a square-headed window of two shouldered lights, probably of C13 date. To W of this is a square-headed low side window. A Mass clock, or scratch dial, one of three originally on the S elevation, is still visible on the face of the buttress between the nave and chancel, a medieval form of sundial to mark out Mass times. In the N vestry there is a re-used trefoiled C14 light.
W bellcote of 1878 which replaced a wooden belfry, corbelled base on the E face seems older. It contains one bell by Clement Tosier, 1688. There are diagonal buttresses to nave and chancel.
INTERIOR: The nave roof has plain tie-beams and trussed rafters. There is a three-bay arcade of 1878. There are no traces of the S nave altar, but the remains of a C15 niche on the N of the chancel arch mark the site of a corresponding N altar of the nave. In the wall above the W jamb of the S doorway is a stone corbel, which may have carried a beam supporting a W gallery (removed 1869-70). The font, near the S door, is part of the 1869 restoration and was designed and presented by a Mr Cox of Warblington House. With a square bowl and a central and four angle pillars of C12 style, the angle pillars being of yellow marble, it incorporates a Norman bowl and stem, found in the rectory garden.
The church's most significant feature is the semi-circular, slightly depressed c1140 chancel arch, of square section except for a thick roll-moulding on the W side, and two outer bands of flat relief decoration, one in double lozenge pattern, the other with two bands of sawtooth pattern. The responds have on the W angles inset shafts with scalloped capitals. The abacus has a hollow chamfer below, and is continued as a string on the W face, and on the E face of the S respond are parts of a string of different section, perhaps not in situ. In the SE angle of the chancel is a C15 cinquefoiled piscina with a stone shelf. A wall monument to the Rev St John Alder, who died in 1864, shows two angels in relief, holding an unfurled banner with the inscription, all in a moulded trefoiled recess. There are two attractive tablets of c1780 and c1800 high on the west chancel wall, above the arch, with pediments and urns.
HISTORY: Although there are no accurate records of the church's original dedication, it is traditionally thought to have been 1132. The oldest parts are the chancel arch of c1140; the lower parts of the S and W walls may be of the same date. The chancel seems to have been rebuilt in the C13, and probably lengthened about 1360-70. The line of the N wall, however, has probably not been altered, and the wall may contain older masonry in its W portion.
SOURCES: http://www.bedhamptonparish.org.uk/ accessed 08 July 2009
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41945 accessed 08 July 2009
http://www.churchplansonline.org accessed 08 July 2009
Pevsner, Nikolaus & Lloyd, David, 1967, The Buildings of England: Hampshire & the Isle of Wight, pp 98-99
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Church of St Thomas, Bedhampton is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is of special architectural and historic interest for its C12 and later medieval fabric, including a number of C14 traceried windows
* The interior is notable for the C12 chancel arch
Listing NGR: SU7022406381
