St Thomas’s church served a rural area W of Havant until the early 20thc, when Bedhampton became increasingly urbanised. The building stands on raised ground. The walls are faced in flint or rubble, with ashlar dressings, and the roofs are covered in red tiles. The church comprises a nave with a bell cote over the W wall and a S porch, a three-bay N aisle with a catslide roof, a chancel, and, to the N of the chancel, a large vestry. The architectural details are mainly of the 13thc and 14thc (not necessarily in situ), but the chancel arch is decorated with Romanesque sculpture. It influenced the design of the Victorian font.

In 1086 Hugh de Port held the manor of Bedhampton, which had a church. It was held by the Herbert family from 1167 at the earliest. Historic England suggests that the church was dedicated in 1132, but notes the absence of accurate documentation (HE List Description).

A watercolour of 1841 by R. C. H. Ubsell shows the exterior of the church from the S prior to the Victorian restorations and enlargements.

The church was restored by the architect Edward A. Gruning (1837-1908) in 1869. The bell cote and S porch shown in Ubsell’s watercolour were replaced. The vestry and the ‘pretty font’ also date from this period (Hampshire Telegraph, 29 December 1869, 3). The same architect added the N aisle, together with the arcade and a vestry extension, in 1878 (Hampshire Telegraph, 9 October 1878, 4). The vestry was further extended in 1993.

The chancel arch has been consistently dated to c.1140 by commentators (for example, VCH [1908], Pevsner & Lloyd [1967]; Historic England [2010]) since the early 20thc. Although this may have been influenced by the reported dedication of 1132, it accords with the style of the carving. The damage to the N capital was probably caused by the installation of a screen.

The chevron displayed in the S wall of the nave is not visible in Ubsell’s watercolour of 1841 but was noted by the VCH in 1908 (VCH 1908, 143). It may have been found and set in position by Gruning during one of his campaigns of work, in 1869 or 1878. If the latter, it may have been discovered in the N wall of the nave, which was dismantled to create a new arcade. The two string-course blocks reset in the chancel may have a similar history.

According to Historic England, the font ‘incorporates a Norman bowl and stem, found in the rectory garden’ (HE List Description). It appears, however, to date in its entirety to 1869.