St Thomas The Apostle

Much rebuilt by 1657, including the W tower, after a fire in 1645.

The dominant features are the W tower and the N transept which are from the two key building campaigns, in the mid 17th century and 1828-9 respectively, both quite unusual dates in English church-building.

The S aisle was much rebuilt in the 17th century: it has no parapets.

its three large pointed windows have three-light Perpendicular tracery and were designed by Hayward: a fourth window to the E is small and has grid-like mullions and a transom which looks like a simple 17th-century design yet is not shown on a pre-1820s picture of the church.

The inner doorway on the N has 14th-century moulding and is perhaps reused.

The nave and aisles are of five bays and the arcades are probably medieval survivals.

To the N is a late medieval-style canopied table tomb to Christina Medley , wife of the first vicar, John Medley, and who is depicted as a recumbent figure with her hands clasped: it was designed and executed by the London sculptor John Bacon Jnr.

Also from the 1840s is the font , a very richly treated piece in Beer stone and similar to the font installed by Medley at St Andrew's, Exwick: it is octagonal and has ornate ogee arches on the bowl and much crocketing, quatrefoil work and an inscription round the top.

The wooden lectern is an important medieval piece dating from the 14th century and was brought here from the cathedral about 1840 and is of great importance as the earliest surviving cathedral lectern.

The royal arms at the W end date from 1682.

The pulpit (c1903) is a traceried wooden piece and stands on a marble base: it probably dates from the 1870s restoration.

The church has many wall monuments.

The largest is to Sir Thomas Northmore with a circular inscription flanked by two columns: it has two standing allegorical figures and two more (winged) reclining on a broken pediment.

A similar monument is located over the N doorway HISTORY: A chapel was founded in the 13th century on the W side of the Exe bridge by Cowick Priory and later rebuilt on this site to serve the important settlement which grew up on the side of the river away from the city.

The church was burnt in 1645 in the Civil War and much rebuilt by 1657.

Mid-17th-century and 1820s work on the scale of St Thomas¿s is quite unusual in English churches and thus this gives the building special importance.

The 17th-century work was altered in the 19th century but the tower is essentially intact and is an important example of Gothic survival into the post-Reformation period.

The architects: nothing is known of the medieval or 17th-century builders.

Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 1995, p 741.

Antonia Brodie et al., Directory of British Architects 1834-1900, 2001, pp 874-5.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Thomas the Apostle, Cowick Street, Exeter, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * It is of outstanding interest as a church of medieval origins which was remodelled in a series of important campaigns in the 17th and 19th centuries. * The 17th-century work is an important example of Gothic survival, using the architecture of the Middle Ages in the post-Civil War rebuilding campaign. * The 1820s work at the E end is unusually lavish for its time.

It is generously scaled and gives the building an imposing E end. * The refitting - reredos, altar, font and seating - in the early 1840s is a pioneering example of its kind. * Of older fittings, the lectern is of great importance as the earliest surviving cathedral lectern in the country.

There is also a series of wall monuments, two of which have considerable distinction.