---
title: "St Thomas the Martyr, Winchelsea"
description: "Located in Winchelsea, Sussex. Built C14 (work begun 1288); C15 west porch; restored from 1850. Diocese of Chichester. Grade I. Decorated Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Sussex","Winchelsea","Grade I","Decorated Gothic","Thomas Becket","Edward Strachan"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-thomas-winchelsea"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T03:07:09.436Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T18:58:03.286Z"
location: "Winchelsea, Sussex"
country: "England"
county: "Sussex"
town: "Winchelsea"
address: "High Street, Winchelsea, Sussex, TN36 4EB"
postcode: "TN36 4EB"
built: "C14 (work begun 1288); C15 west porch; restored from 1850"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Thomas the Martyr"]
diocese: "Chichester"
grade: "I"
style: "Decorated Gothic"
website: "http://winchelseachurch.co.uk/"
openingHours: "Sorry, there are no regular opening times for this church."
parish: "Winchelsea"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1276072"
gridReference: "TQ 905 173"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets in church. Level access throughout. Level access to the main areas"
---

# St Thomas the Martyr, Winchelsea

St Thomas the Martyr is a Grade I parish church on the High Street in Winchelsea, East Sussex, in the Diocese of Chichester. Historic England records it as the finest Decorated work in Sussex.

## Overview

A church of St Thomas is recorded at Old Winchelsea by 1215. After flooding, the town was rebuilt inland and work on a new Gothic church began in 1288, planned as a cruciform building with chancel, choir, side chapels, central tower, transepts and a great nave. The listing states that the nave was either never finished or was burned by the French in the fourteenth century; the chancel with aisles and the arches and ruins of the transepts remain. Except for the fifteenth-century west porch, the standing fabric is fourteenth-century Decorated Gothic.

The church holds earlier canopied tombs. Historic England notes modern stained glass designed by Edward Strachan filling all but two of the windows. By the early nineteenth century the building was described as almost unfit for public worship; restoration began in 1850. The churchyard includes burials of soldiers quartered at Winchelsea during the Peninsular War.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1276072](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1276072)
- [British Listed Buildings: Parish Church of St Thomas the Martyr](https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101276072-the-parish-church-of-st-thomas-the-martyr-icklesham)
- [Parish church site](http://winchelseachurch.co.uk/)