St Thomas à Becket Church, Warblington facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Thomas à Becket Church
The church from the southwest
50°50′37″N 0°57′58″W / 50.8437°N 0.9660°W / 50.8437; -0.9660
Location	Church Lane, Warblington, Havant, Hampshire PO9 2TU
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Previous denomination	Roman Catholic
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	11th century
Dedication	Thomas Becket
Dedicated	1796 (previously dedicated to Our Lady)
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	16 May 1952
Style	Transitional/Early English Gothic
Administration
Parish	Warblington with Emsworth
Deanery	Havant
Archdeaconry	Portsdown
Diocese	Portsmouth

The St Thomas à Becket Church is a very old church in Warblington, Hampshire, England. It's also sometimes called St Thomas of Canterbury's Church. Before 1796, it was known as the Church of Our Lady. This church is part of the Church of England.

The church was first built a very long time ago, during the Saxon era. Some parts of that original Saxon building are still there today! Most of the church you see now was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. Not much was changed in the 1800s, so it still looks very old.

The church is in a quiet, rural area next to a farm. In the 1800s, this made it a target for "body snatchers." These were people who secretly dug up bodies from graves. To stop them, two small huts were built in the churchyard for people to watch over the graves. These huts are still there today!

Even though Warblington is now a suburban area near Havant, the church remains in a peaceful spot. It's located between a main road and an inlet of the English Channel. For many years, the church served a large area, including the nearby town of Emsworth. Today, Warblington and Emsworth parishes are together again, and services are held at both St Thomas à Becket and St James's Church in Emsworth.

The church is considered very important for its history and architecture. It has a special "Grade I listed" status, which is the highest level for historic buildings in England. The two grave-watchers' huts in the churchyard are also listed as Grade II, meaning they are nationally important. Inside the church, you can find old monuments and special 13th-century floor tiles.

History of the Church

How Warblington Changed

Warblington is now a suburban part of Havant, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the town center. The original village was further south, near a large farm and the old manor house, which is now a ruin called Warblington Castle. The church was also in this original village. Over time, the village moved north towards the main A27 road. This might have happened because Emsworth grew bigger, or because of the Black Death plague, or when Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick created a deer park around the manor house.

Building the First Church

The area of Warblington was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086. By then, a church already existed. This first church stood where the present church's chancel (the area around the altar) is now. The only part left from this very first Saxon church is the middle section of the current tower. This tower section was originally the upper part of a porch at the west end of the church. It's now in the middle of the church and is considered the oldest and most important part of the building.

Expanding the Church in the 1200s

The church was rebuilt and made much larger around the year 1200, and more work was done later in the 13th century. During this time, a new nave (the main part of the church where people sit) was added with aisles on both sides. The top part of the tower was also built then, though it didn't have its pointy roof (spire) yet. The original nave was turned into a chancel, but later in the 13th century, this was replaced with the much larger chancel we see today. A small room called a vestry was also added. The church became bigger, possibly because Emsworth, the main town in the parish, grew into a port in the 1200s.

Around the late 1200s or early 1300s, the chancel floor was covered with special glazed encaustic tiles. These tiles were similar to ones found at nearby Titchfield Abbey and were made near Winchester. In the 1400s, a door and a wooden porch were added to the north side, and another door was put at the west end a century later.

Changes for Nearby Towns

For a long time, people from Emsworth had to travel about 2 miles (3.2 km) to Warblington to go to church. This changed in 1789–90 when a smaller church, called a chapel of ease, was built in Emsworth's market place. This chapel was replaced by St James's Church in 1840, which then became its own separate parish church. However, by 1974, the parishes of Emsworth and Warblington were joined together again.

The Grave-Watchers' Huts

In the 1800s, a strange crime called "body snatching" became common. Body snatchers would dig up recently buried bodies to sell them for medical study. St Thomas à Becket Church was a popular spot for this because its churchyard was quiet, isolated, and hidden by yew trees. To protect the graves, the church hired local builders in 1829–30 to build two small huts for grave-watchers. These watchers would stand in the huts and keep an eye out for anyone trying to disturb the graves. The huts are made of flint and brick. One of them was later made bigger and used as a tool shed.

Later Updates and a Fire

Later in the 1800s, an architect named J. H. Ball made some changes to the church. He replaced some of the old 13th-century windows, added a room for the organ, and put the small spire on top of the tower. He also changed the east window and put a new roof on the chancel. In 1909, a special window shaped like a five-leaf clover was added above the main door.

On January 16, 2011, an accidental fire started in the church due to an electrical problem. The fire mainly damaged the pews at the front, but smoke spread throughout the building, harming the organ and pulpit. For several months, the church underwent a big cleaning and repair project. Workers carefully cleaned soot and smoke from the walls, ceiling, floor, windows, and memorials. The church was rededicated in July 2011 after all the work was finished.

Church Architecture

Styles and Sections

The church shows different building styles from its long history. You can see parts of the "Transitional style," which is a mix of older Norman architecture and the newer Gothic architecture. It also has parts in the "Early English Gothic" style. These styles show when different parts of the church were built.

The church has a very long chancel (about 45 feet or 13.7 meters long and 15.5 feet or 4.7 meters wide). The nave (where people sit) is a bit narrower. There's a central tower with three sections, an organ room, and a vestry next to the chancel. The nave also has aisles on its north and south sides, and a porch on the north side.

The Ancient Tower

The middle section of the tower is the oldest part of the entire church, built even before the Norman conquest of England. It's about 9 feet (2.7 meters) square on the outside, with very thick walls. It has simple arched openings on its north and south sides. The section above this was added in the 13th century and has tall, narrow windows called lancet windows. The very top section, added in the 1800s with its shingled spire, holds one bell and has two lancet windows. Inside, the tower is supported by two arched openings. The arch on the east side, built in the late 1200s or early 1300s, now forms the main arch leading into the chancel.

Nave and Aisles

The nave is quite wide and has three main sections, called bays. Each bay has a lancet window that sticks out above the roof, making the church look very interesting from the outside. On either side of the nave are the aisles, with rows of arches called arcades. Even though they were built around the same time in the 13th century, the arcades look different.

The south arcade is very beautiful. It has eight-sided pillars and columns made of Purbeck Marble with detailed carvings of leaves on their tops. These are similar to carvings found in nearby Chichester Cathedral. The north arcade, built at the same time, is simpler with round columns. The aisles extend beyond the tower to form small side chapels.

Windows and Porch

The east ends of the chancel and vestry have windows with two or three lights (sections), which were updated in the Victorian era. An original medieval lancet window still exists in the north wall of the vestry. Some windows on the south side have their original frames but were replaced in the 14th or 15th century. The large west window above the entrance has three stepped lancet windows under a pointed arch.

Between the vestry and the chancel, there's a small opening called a squint with a sliding panel. This allowed people in the vestry to see the altar. The "fine medieval porch" on the north side has beautiful wooden carvings from the 14th or 15th century, including decorative boards on the gable.

Monuments and Churchyard Features

Inside the Church

Southeast Hampshire was known for its skilled sculptors in the 1700s, who made memorial tablets and monuments for churches. St Thomas à Becket Church has many examples of their work, known for their excellent lettering and decorations.

Inside, you can find two 14th-century tomb effigies (sculptures of people lying down). One is made of Purbeck Marble and shows a praying figure. The other shows a lady with very detailed hands and still visible facial features, even though it's worn. Historians think these might be daughters of Robert Aguillon, who owned land in Emsworth.

On the walls, there are several decorative plaques called cartouches from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Some were made by J. Morey, a member of a family of sculptors buried in the churchyard. Many of these plaques feature cherubs, which local sculptors were very good at carving. There's also a brass plaque from the late 1500s showing Raffe Smalpage, a chaplain, kneeling at a desk.

The Churchyard

The churchyard has a wonderful collection of carved limestone headstones. Many of them tell stories or show pictures. Several even show nautical scenes:

• One shows HMS Torbay on fire in Portsmouth Harbour, remembering a sailor who died in 1758.
• Another from the next year shows Dublin Bay, where a sailor's ship sank.
• A third shows an unknown ship, remembering a sailor who was forced into the navy.

The grave-watchers' huts, built in 1829–30, stand at the northwest and southeast corners of the churchyard. They are made of flint with red brick details and have slanted roofs covered with slate tiles. They have pointed arched entrances and windows with shutters. The hut on the southeast side has a stone chimney. The one on the northwest side is larger because it was extended and also used as a tool shed.

The Church Today

St Thomas à Becket Church was given its Grade I listed status on May 16, 1952. This means it is a building of "exceptional interest" and is more important than just a local landmark. As of February 2001, it was one of only two Grade I listed buildings in the Borough of Havant. The grave-watchers' huts were also listed as Grade II on the same date, meaning they are "nationally important and of special interest."

As of 2020, St Thomas à Becket Church holds regular services. These include Holy Communion services twice a month, a weekly Matins service (morning prayer), and a monthly evening service. Other services for the parish are held at St James's Church in Emsworth or together with the town's Methodist church.

See also

• List of places of worship in the Borough of Havant