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Description

TF 01 SE GREATFORD CHURCH LANE (north side) 5/85 Church of St. Thomas a Becket 30.10.68 G.V. I Parish church. Cll, early and late C13, C14, C17, restored c.1854. Coursed limestone rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings. Collyweston slate roof with stone coped gables. Nave, chancel, south porch and tower, north chapel, vestry. In the west wall a single C13 lancet. The north wall has runs of herringbone work, together with a blocked single splayed round headed window suggesting a Cll date. Also a blocked C13 pointed doorway and a C19 2 light window. The north chapel is in banded limestone and in the west wall is a C19 Tudor arched doorway. In the north wall is a large 4 light transomed window of C14, with reticulated tracery to the head. In the north wall of the chancel are 2 C13 lancets and in the vestry is a pair of trefoil headed lights. In the chancel east end is a 3 light C14 reticulated window. In the south wall is a lancet and 2 two light reticulated windows, one set low down with a transom, next to a C13 pointed doorway. Late C13 3 stage tower with clasping buttresses and broach spire with 2 tiers of lucarnes. To the belfry stage are paired lancets with circles in the tympana. In the east wall a blocked doorway with C19 ogee head. On the south side are single lancets to the lower stages, the upper light with shafted reveals and annular capitals. In the south wall in the blocking of the arch is a C17 mullioned and transomed window with pointed head. Early C14 gabled south porch with set back buttresses. Double chamfered outer arch with triple shafted reveals, foliate capitals and moulded hood with human head stops. Side benches and pair of Y traceried lights to the east. The C13 inner doorway resembles the outer but has annular capitals with hobnails. Beyond the porch is a late C13 2 light window with cusped heads to the lights, a quatrefoil over and moulded hood. Interior. On the north side of the nave an early C13 triple chamfered arch with octagonal responds and capitals. On the south side 2 similar arches one opening into the tower, one now blank. Collared nave roof with common rafters with diagonal braces to the collars. In the north chapel is a pierced stone screen of 2 lights with moulded lintel and cambered arch over. In the cill is a stone bearing a relief carving of a circle with 6 oak leaves about a central hole, reputedly a piscina or offertory basin. In the north wall is a late C13 moulded pointed arched tomb recess. In the tower chamber is a C14 ogee headed door to the rood loft. Early C13 triple chamfered chancel arch with triple shafted engaged reveals and annular capitals with hobnails. In the chancel south wall a C14 sedilia with ball flowers to the carved cornice and beyond a C13 piscina with cusped head and dogtoothed hood. In the north wall is a triangular aumbry. C19 carved stone reredos with terracotta floral tiles beneath the string course to each side. Stained glass of 1898. Fittings. Chancel wooden screen of 1913. All other fittings are C19 including the octagonal font. Monuments. In the tower chamber a large C15 stone slab with engraved cross fleury and margin inscription. In the north chapel are 2 Carrera marble wall plaques by Nollekens with grey marble obelisks, one to Rev. Dr.Francis Willis of Greatford Hall, d.1807, with bust, books and inscription recording the curing of George III lunacy, the other to Mary Willis d.1797 with a draped urn. On the north wall is a further monument by M. C. Wyatt to Francis Willis, d.1831, in the form of a double aedicule with pediment and draped upper inscription panel. On the west wall a tablet to John Willis M.D. of Shillingthorpe Hall, d.1835, by T. Gaffin of London, a sarcophagus with panel showing deceased at rest, tended by angels. Nearby a small plaque to Mary, Countess Dowager of Pomfret, d.1839, a draped fluted urn. In the chancel a wall plaque to Petrus Lafargue, Clerk, d.1804, rectangular panel surmounted by an urn. In the south porch a large square panel with bolection surround to Robert Bonner d.1661, and a shield shaped plaque to his wife Elizabeth d.1709, with foliage and cherub. Listing NGR: TF0860611964

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