St Thomas of Canterbury, Rectory Lane, Wolsingham 2005


St Thomas of Canterbury, Wolsingham 2005


St Thomas of Canterbury 2005

R.C. parish church. 1854 by Joseph Hansom. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roof with flat stone gable copings. Decorated style. 6-bay nave with north aisle; south aisle and first stage of unfinished south-west tower; 2-bay chancel with north vestry. Boarded double door in second bay of south aisle in roll-moulded 2-centred arch; massive buttresses and chamfered plinth to first stage of tower in first bay. 2-light aisle windows, in bays defined by buttresses; 2-light chancel windows, 5-light east window; 4- light west window flanked by 3-light windows in aisle and tower under pent roofs; decorated tracery of varied patterns. Small trefoil in west gable peak and cinquefoil in east, under steeply-pitched roofs with elaborate stone cross finials. Interior: painted plaster with ashlar arcades; scissor-truss nave roof and panelled keeled chancel roof. Arcades, of 6 arches on north and 4 on south, have chamfered 2-centred arches on octagonal columns and cushion-moulded capitals. Very high chancel arch in similar style. Cusped 2-centred vestry door. Plain 2-centred tower arches on east and north. Late C19 glass in south aisle east window; earlier glass in east window.

Known to contain a number of features dedicated as war memorials including two paintings, the fifth and twelfth of fourteen "Stations of the Cross", which bear a dedication to a fallen soldier from the Second World War. The fourteen paintings and frames are thought to have been made by Italian P.O.W's at Prison Camp 93, Low Harperley (6-7). It is also documented that a memorial bathchair was given anonymously to the parish as a thankoffering "from one who has returned safely from active service, 1919" - it was to be kept at the nearby Rectory (8).