Church Of St Thomas

The Church of St Thomas is a red brick church in the Early English style, designed in 1874 by John Cotton of Birmingham and constructed by Mr Nelson of Dudley at a cost of £2,350. The foundation stone was laid on 25 June 1873 and the church was consecrated on 14 April 1874. A minor alteration involving the enlargement of the vestry took place in the 1880s.

The building is constructed of red brick with Bath and Attleborough stone dressings. The 84-foot spire is formed of pressed buff bricks with red bands and large stone pinnacles. The roof is of Staffordshire tiles, though the hidden aisle roof is slated behind a parapet of blue brick crosses. The interior is lined with buff brick with banding and patterns of red and blue set in buff mortar.

The plan comprises a chancel and nave with a north aisle. A tower is positioned in the north-west corner over a porch, with a vestry to the north of the chancel opening from the east end of the south aisle. The church is set on a corner plot facing Longford Road, a main arterial road in and out of Coventry. The tower is designed to have strong presence on the street façade, making striking use of brick for decorative effect and designed in a Decorated style, features characteristic of Cotton's architectural approach.

The interior contains a large and lofty nave with a small and low north aisle lit by small lancet windows. Exposed brickwork is throughout, with open timbered roofs plastered and coloured between the rafters. The chancel floor is covered with encaustic tiles, while the remainder of the church (now carpeted) was originally laid with red and blue quarries. The windows contain cathedral glass with coloured floriated tracery designs.

When first constructed and furnished with pews, the church could accommodate 289 people in free seats. The marks of where pews were located remain visible on the high square pier bases. The chancel was reordered in 1916 with internal panelling, installation of a reredos, and replacement of the pulpit and choir stalls. The 1881 organ by Nicholson and Wards was enlarged at this time, necessitating expansion of the vestry. Evidence of the 1916 reordering remains largely intact, except for the choir stalls. A nave platform was installed in 1991.

The church contains glass primarily from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, largely by Jones and Willis of London, including St Paul at the west end of the nave, St Thomas at the east end of the nave, and St Laurence (in memory of Jane Jones) in the chancel. The tower clock was gifted in 1886 by grocer Mr Arthur. The eight bells are by Taylor of Loughborough, dated 1892. Carvings were executed by Mr Roddis of Birmingham. A plan by the architect hangs in the vestry.

The church was built as a chapel of ease to St Lawrence's parish, Foleshill, in response to rapid population expansion in Longford during the 1860s and 1870s, driven by industrial development in and around Coventry. The area was primarily occupied by miners and factory workers engaged in weaving. The church remained a chapel of ease for the first 35 years of its existence. The church's parish was created out of Exhall, Foleshill and Sowe in 1908.

John Cotton (1844–1934) had worked for nearly a year with Waterhouse and Nesfield in London after receiving a Pugin scholarship before establishing his firm in Birmingham in 1870. St Thomas' was the third of eight new churches designed by the architect, all in the Midlands area. His first two were at Luddington (1871–2) and Bromsgrove (1872). Cotton's designs are characterised by the use of an offset tower, a tower porch, the absence of a clerestory, and a clear preference for Decorated architectural motifs.

Cotton's first sketches were returned by the Worcester architectural society for rethinking. Cost concerns affected the project from the outset. An 1872 sketch showed the option of a south aisle to accommodate at least 100 additional seats, but this was not favoured by the architect on account of its relationship to the nave, which had been kept low for economy. The suggestion arose at one point to sacrifice the full height of the tower and spire to save money, but ultimately it was decided to proceed with these elements, which were to be formed of pressed buff tinted bricks moulded to a battered face and set in cement. A detached schoolroom was built in 1876 by Mr Wilkins. Improvements to the heating and lighting were made in 1891. The Masser family were leaders in the planning of St Thomas' in the 1870s, and in 1916, in memory of another Masser, the reredos was carved and the pulpit and font now in use were given to replace those installed by Cotton. Further alterations to the chancel took place in 1925 when it was described as lowered. Removal of pews and the carpeting of the interior in recent decades, along with the installation of the 1991 nave platform and associated reorderings, have impacted the character of the church as an entity.