Church Of St Thomas

Church of St Thomas

This is a rectangular-plan church built in brick laid in English bond, with sections of knapped flint on the walls and west gable. The roof is covered with plain tiles.

The church comprises a nave with pitched roof, north and south aisles with flat roofs, a square tower at the south-east corner, and a transept with pitched roof at the north-east corner. The entrance porch at the south-west corner is faced with flint and has brick quoins and a straight brick parapet. It contains a double door with a three-centred arch head and a simple brick and concrete surround. The south aisle has a series of four windows with three-centred arch heads, brick mullions and plain leaded lights. The north elevation features three identical windows to the nave and a door to the former boiler room, together with a larger arched window to the north gable of the transept and a round-arched door in the west side of the transept.

A large three-centred arch window occupies the west end, with single small square windows either side to each aisle. A brick chimney to the former boiler room, converted to toilets, remains in situ at the north-west corner of the nave.

The tower has four stages and is predominantly brick with small areas of flint infill around the upper-level windows. Four square turrets at each corner have square openings in each face and a brick balustrade between them. A large arched window in the south side of the tower at the lower stage repeats the aisle window design. Above this are double round-arched windows divided by moulded brick mullions on the second and third stages on all four sides of the tower. String courses denote the different stages. The east elevation has a small single-storey flat-roofed vestry attached to the tower, and a single-storey church room with a flat roof wraps around the nave's west end.

Interior

Entrance is via the spacious porch at the south-west corner, lit by a square window on its west side. A stone carved with the name of the architect and the contractor is set within it. The nave and transepts have plain barrel-vaulted ceilings of reinforced concrete that form a groin vault at their intersection. A large metal cross is suspended from the boss above the altar. Behind the altar is a plain wall of dark grey brick arranged in a saw-tooth pattern and punched with narrow lancet windows. The altar has a plain timber rail with brick infill panels to its curved corners.

A clerestory to the nave contains small square mullioned windows, and arcades either side of the nave feature wide arches that echo the window shapes. The wide aisles are brightly lit by the large arched windows and feature the Stations of the Cross. The interior is finished in smooth white render with no moulding or surface decoration.

An organ is positioned in the south transept, and a plain timber pulpit stands at the south-east corner of the nave. A plain hexagonal stone font with a decorative timber cover is located in the west end. Various pieces of contemporary furniture, including screens, chairs and choir stalls, are distributed throughout the church. The tower contains three internal floors, each with a single square room and staircase to the levels above or below. These rooms are plain and contain no features of interest.