Church Heritage Record 637083

Aisled nave, chancel, west baptistery, transepts, south porches, north organ chamber and south vestry.

Nave and aisles approximately 35m x 21 m. Chancel approximately 13m x 10m.

In 1885 a tin-built building was erected to serve the area of Telford Park. Around the turn of the century a site for a permanent building was obtained and work begun on St Thomas’ to designs by Sidney R J Smith and Spencer W Grant. The church was opened and dedicated in September 1901 but was not consecrated at the time due to the unpaid debt accrued in building. The north and south aisles were added in 1905 together with the baptistery at the west end.  Financial support for these additions came from Emmanuel College, Cambridge who owned nearby land.

Some 20 years later the chancel, transepts, organ loft and vestry were added; Canon Clarke attributes this period to original architects Smith and Grant. On completion in 1927 the church was finally consecrated.

St Thomas is red brick Edwardian building in Early English Gothic. The church is of great height and bulk which, with the use of simple repeated lancets, has a certain rhythm which is successful both internally and externally.

The nave roof is steeply pitched with a stepped gable at the east end where the chancel pitch is slightly lower in height. The nave is of five bays with the transept occupying the easternmost.

The south side of the building is the show side and the clearstorey is prominent in the four bays of the nave. Each bay has three equal pointed lancets spaced apart within a segmental arch which is only demarcated by a slight recess. The recess also exists on the bay where the transept joins the nave. The lancets sit on a stringcourse.

The south aisle below leans against the nave and has a porch projecting at the west end. The porch has a separate pitch, an arched doorway and diagonal buttresses. There are small lancet openings to the east and west walls. The aisle windows are as the clearstorey, three per bay (excepting the westernmost which has two before the porch) but without the detailing of the arch. Each bay is separated from the next by a robust plain buttress with a single wide offset. The west end of the aisle has an arched window of two lights with a trefoil above, all under a hood mould.

A vestry is positioned to the east of the transept, the pitch dying into the south wall of the chancel and facing to the east.

The west elevation of the church has a semi-circular apse at lower level. The apse has seven equal lancet windows and a conical roof set behind a low parapet. The windows are linked by a continuous hoodmould and above this there is a decorative band of stonework with simple squares of moulding.

The east elevation of the chancel is a shouldered gable. There are clasping buttresses to the east only which have pitched weatherings as seen on the transepts. The window is large and almost perpendicular in style. In the centre is a pointed arch with three equal cusped lancets and vertical tracery detailing above. Flanking this arch are single cusped lancets under pointed arches with minimal tracery details. All three arches are linked by a continuous hood mould.

The nave is an impressive and capacious space. The arcades of the nave are wide pointed arches on octagonal pink Mansfield stone piers. From each spandrel rises a thin pilaster column from which the roof timbers spring. A strong string course runs beneath the clearstorey giving a distinct feeling of progression up to the exposed timbers of the roof.

The fifth and easternmost bay of the nave translates to the transept on either side and is wider than the other bays of the arcades. The aisles have much lower arches linking each to its transept. Both aisles have been cleared of pews which contributes towards an open spacious feel.

The north aisle has a children’s corner at the west end with a wooden screen behind it creating a small storage area or porch around the doorway. A similar screen arrangement is found around the external door in the south transept.

The organ chamber has a tall arch to the transept which has been made into a small chapel and another to the chancel where the organ and pipes are set back within the chamber.

On the south side of the chancel there is a blind recessed arch and on the east side of this a low arched door to the vestry.

The transepts and the chancel have timber barrel vaulted roofs and the nave has exposed queen post trusses with curved braces.