Church Of St Thomas

Church of St Thomas, Maryon Road, Woolwich

Built between 1848 and 1850 by the architects J and J S Gwilt, this is an Italianate Romanesque Revival church constructed in dark red brick with limestone and white and grey brick dressings and slate roofs. A north vestry was added during the original construction phase. The church was consecrated on 31 July 1850, having been designed to seat 800 people at an estimated cost of £6,000. An application for a grant was made to the Incorporated Church Building Society in December 1845, with building work commencing in August 1848.

The plan comprises a nave and chancel in one, with a semi-circular apse for the sanctuary, a north vestry, and an internal south-east organ chamber.

The exterior displays nine bays with windows in two tiers. The western bay contains vestibules providing access to the galleries, with north and south doorways. The building's corners are emphasised by clasping buttresses that enlarge into small towers rising above the nave eaves and terminating in pedimented cappings. The side elevations feature flat pilasters marking the bays, with large single-light windows at ground storey level. On the upper storey, windows are smaller and arranged in pairs (a single light in the western bay). The west façade has a central doorway flanked by a pair of small single-light windows, above which is a row of seven lights with an enlarged central light. Three oculi sit in the gable above. The east end terminates in a semi-circular apse with a series of oculi below the eaves, with stepped windows in the nave east wall above the apse roof.

The interior retains the four eastern bays of the nave and choir with a semi-circular plastered roof demarcated by flat ribs. The arcades contain quatrefoil piers with moulded capitals on high bases, supporting semi-circular arches with one step. Stone columns carry the roof above, which is of hammerbeam construction with deep arch-braces to the hammerbeams and longitudinal arch-bracing between the bays. A simple font in the north aisle bears a painted Greek inscription. The windows of the apse contain Victorian glass.

In 1981, the church was reordered when the western part was partitioned off to create community spaces and a kitchen. The four western bays of the nave were subdivided horizontally to create a community room above, while the former galleries are now used for storage. Other original fittings, including pews, have been removed.

St Thomas is an unusually late example of Romanesque Revival church architecture, as this style enjoyed only brief popularity for church-building in the late 1830s and early 1840s before being superseded by Gothic Revival, which retained stylistic dominance into the twentieth century. Few Romanesque essays were undertaken after 1845, making this church a notable exception, possibly due to the extended construction period.

Joseph Gwilt (1784–1863) entered his father's architectural office in 1799 and served as surveyor to Surrey from 1807 to 1846, with his career based in London. He won the Royal Academy Silver Medal in 1801. By the 1840s, he was working in partnership with his son John Sebastian (1811–1890).