Church of St Thomas, Thurlbear

Church of St Thomas
Location within Somerset
General information
Town or city	Thurlbear, Orchard Portman
Country	England
Coordinates	50°59′21″N 3°04′44″W / 50.9893°N 3.0788°W / 50.9893; -3.0788
Completed	12th century

The Church of St Thomas in the village of Thurlbear, which is in the parish of Orchard Portman, Somerset, England, dates from the 12th century. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.^[1] It is a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.^[2] The church was vested in the Trust on 1 November 1988.^[3]

The church shows clear signs of the Norman church upon which later structures were built. Pevsner cites the Norman arcades and narrow aisles characteristic of that era and "never enlarged to satisfy later medieval taste." He dates the church to "hardly later than c. 1110."^[4][5]

The Churches Conservation Trust launched a programme of repairs at the church, with the Somerset County Council conducting an archaeological recording and survey in conjunction with these efforts.^[6]

See also

• List of Grade I listed buildings in Taunton Deane
• List of towers in Somerset
• List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in South West England

References

1. ^ "Church of St Thomas, Thurlbear". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=40801. Retrieved 2009-04-25. 
2. ^ St Thomas' Church, Thurlbear, Somerset, Churches Conservation Trust, http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/Ourchurches/Completelistofchurches/St-Thomas-Church-Thurlbear-Somerset/, retrieved 31 March 2011 
3. ^ (PDF) Diocese of Bath and Wells: All Schemes, Church Commissioners/Statistics, Church of England, 2011, p. 6, http://www.churchofengland.org/media/810289/bath%20and%20wells%20-%20all%20schemes.pdf, retrieved 31 March 2011 
4. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1958 - Reprinted by Yale Univ Press, 2003). The Buildings of England, South and West Somerset. Penguin Books. 
5. ^ "Church of St Thomas". Images of England. English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=270881. Retrieved 2009-02-02. 
6. ^ Dunning, Robert; Robert Croft and others (2007). Somerset Churches and Chapels, Building, Repair, and Restoration. Wellington, Somerset: Halsgrove Publishing. ISBN 9781841145921.