Church Heritage Record 602120

Nave and chancel, north west tower, lady chapel, adjoining church hall and community centre.

Nave and chancel 33.2m x 19.8m.

Built between 1958 – 1960 the church was a replacement of sorts to St Thomas’ on Bath Row which had been bomb damaged during the War. The earlier church was a Greek Revival design by Rickman and Hutchinson of which the tower and west porticos remain and are now connected to a peace garden. The church at Garretts Green was designed by S T Walker and B Whiting and constructed by T Elvins & Sons Ltd; G Winteringham of S T Walker & Partners also had some involvement with the detailing at a later stage. The church was dedicated in 1960 and consecrated eight years later.

The church has a large hall extending to the north east connected by a short link. At the east of the hall is access to the Community Centre which was built in 1994 and has a separate entrance on Rotherfield Road.

When approaching St Thomas’ it is not immediately apparent that this is a church building. The tower is positioned prominently on the north of the building and slightly to the west. The upper part of the tower has eight rows of small openings in the brickwork, three more single rows of openings are widely spaced down the tower.  The main entrance to the church is through the tower with steps and a ramp leading up to a open porch on the north side.

The church is long and tall and has a shallow continuous pitched rood. A low flat roofed section links the church with the hall at their east and west ends respectively. There is a further entrance here to both parts of the building.

The fenestration found in the nave is on an impressively large scale. At the west end it fills the central third of the entire elevation from floor to eaves. It follows the gable line resulting in a modern Perpendicular effect. The window is divided into five lights with prominent structural mullions and transoms subdividing it further.  The north wall repeats the style with three windows of three lights to the east of the tower. These however are shorter and do not fully reach to the roof. The ‘clerestorey’ on either side of the chancel consists of five slim lights in a rectangular setting, each with the triangular arched head as seen on the larger windows. Transoms are used to divide the window horizontally.

The east elevation is not visible as it backs onto the vicarage garden and it is partly for this reason that there are no windows. The Lady Chapel to the north of the chancel has a small section of floor to ceiling glazing which looks out onto the garden and east wall. A small flat roofed extension at the south west corner of the nave houses vestries and WC facilities and directly above this on the south wall there are three windows as seen on the north side but finishing just above the extension.

The scale of the windows and height of the ceiling mean that the interior of the building is grand and spatially impressive. Contrary to the external aspect, internally the north and south windows reach to the full height of the ceiling and the topmost section of the west window is blocked so it finishes at the top transom.

Tall internal buttresses which are wider at their highest points imply that the building leans in and this together with the ‘portal frames’ of the roof create a continuous angular pattern over the eight bays of the nave. The roof has been painted in shades of green to accentuate these forms.

Access to the vestries on the south wall of the nave is under the main windows. There are three sections corresponding with the windows above and doors lead off to the ancillary rooms from the central recessed part. Further to the east, the organ is positioned in the first bay from the east of the nave, tucked in the corner against the chancel wall. The second bay has low domestic windows looking out to the south.

A small gallery in the tower looks out onto the nave from the north side. The font is positioned centrally towards the west of the nave and the westernmost bays are taken up with clutter and some informal seating areas. The main part of the nave is arranged with chairs. To the north side of the chancel there is a small corridor which leads into the Lady Chapel, this is a small square room with an altar arrangement at the east end. Access to the hall and the alternative entrance is north of the Chapel.

Looking to the east end, the eye is drawn to the 27 foot high mural on the far wall, this is a powerful and dominant feature and has some considerable effect on the interior atmosphere. The chancel area is narrower and here the walls genuinely lean in to meet the pitch of the roof. There are three steps to the chancel and the altar is raised on a dais. The floor has stone paviours whereas parquet flooring is used in the nave; a wide carpeted strip runs centrally to the east wall.

The arrangement of the choir and sanctuary area is quite unusual. Behind the choir stalls there are alcoves which are divided with six thin laths, sloping in line with the walls. This is repeated below the clerestorey windows although on the northern side the laths are wider and tapered to the bottom. The alcove to the north of the sanctuary is backed by a curtain which conceals open access to the Lady Chapel; to the south a sedilia of sorts has been created with a bench and three tall red leather angled seat backs. The clerestorey is set back above these alcoves with more lath sections set in front of the windows and suspended between these are thin cross structures.