| History This church is of significance in the history of Roman Catholicism in England. Following the Reformation, it was not until 1841 that a Roman Catholic mission was established in Wandsworth to serve an area stretching from Richmond to Southwark, and from the Thames to Epsom and Croydon. The tiny upstairs chapel at the foot of West Hill used for this purpose soon proved inadequate, and in 1847 a small church designed by Pugin was built in the centre of Wandsworth. This in turn proved too small, and in 1893 work on the present church began with its opening following in 1895. Thus St. Thomas's is the successor of the 1841 mission chapel, providing a direct link with the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Church in England after the Reformation, and is symbolic of its renewed life. St. Thomas of Canterbury was chosen as the patronal saint because of his local connection - he was educated by the monks at Merton Abbey, which was then within the mission parish. Landmark St. Thomas of Canterbury is a landmark on the Western side of Wandsworth. It is the dominant feature on West Hill, with its tower and façade providing architectural interest for all - including the heavy traffic which crawls up this stretch of the South Circular or down the end of the A3. This building, recently enhanced by floodlighting, is a main feature for a large area, and its restored bells now ring out over Wandsworth. The fine views from its tower are second to none in the area. Edward Goldie The church is the work of Edward Goldie, 1856 - 1921. He was one of a group of London architects whose work was regarded as representing "the good new type of house and …… much interesting work." (1) Apart from domestic architecture, he was responsible for designing a considerable number of churches, convents and schools - the most notable perhaps being the one for which he won a design competition - St. James's, Spanish Place in London. (2) Exterior St. Thomas's is an impressive Victorian Gothic building with some fine features. It is built in perpendicular style of red brick with bath stone dressings. The roof is of pitch pine covered with Westmoreland black slates. The tower has a battlemented parapet with a polygonal staircase buttress, and a recessed battlemented upper tower with chamfered angles. On the West front there is a moulded basket-arch door surround with spirelets and crockets, framing paired doors each side of a polygonal pier with a figure of St. Thomas. The round-arched West window is of 14th century style tracery and there are cusped niches with figures of the Virgin and adoring angels in the gable above. On the Southern elevation there is a three-bay aisle, a tall two-storey transept and a three-bay chancel. The gabled porch front frames a moulded basket arch, and there are three windows, each with their own 14th century style tracery. The church has some fine stonework, including gargoyles, and impressive tracery. Interior Octagonal stone piers support the barrel-vaulted nave. There is some decorative stonework and carving and a round Ravenna-style mosaic of St. Paul, dated 1898. The chancel is rib-vaulted with three 14th century-type windows, and the arch has clustered piers. The reredos was replaced in the 1960's but the oak panelling either side was installed in 1928. The flooring in the main body of the church is in wood blocks - pitch pine under the pews and oak in the aisles. The floor of the chancel is red and white marble. The Lady Chapel This chapel was constructed in 1899 but remained unfinished until 1906 when the altar, reredos and stained glass, (the latter lost to bomb blast), were completed in Arts and Crafts Movement - "Jugendstil" - style by Messrs. Mayer of Munich. Stained Glass The stained glass windows near the baptistery were installed in 1927, while it is thought that those in the north transept are dated 1912. Unfortunately, those on the South side, installed at the end of the 19th century, were blown out by bomb blast in 1940. Three were restored after the war, hence there are three generations of stained glass in the church. The Two Bells The larger bell was cast by John Taylor & Company of Loughborough in 1927. It measures 5' 0½" in diameter and weighs approximately 2 tonnes. Following the advice of Sir Edward Elgar, it was tuned to produce the note: "Fundamental C, not C sharp," and could be heard as far away as Hurlingham. This bell was renovated in 2000 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry when it was found still to be "accurately and harmonically tuned." (3) The smaller bell is of historical importance because it is the original bell of the Pugin church. It was with some courage that the priest installed the bell and rang it, since it was illegal then for Catholics to have church bells. It was recast by John Taylor & Company in 1927 and again by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1959. It is 16" in diameter and weighs approximately 1 cwt. The Organ The Willis organ, designed by Henry Willis and installed in 1928, is notable because it was designed to render, "within the least dimensions …. all classic organ music of whatever period - that is to say, with sufficient foundation tone, variety, balance and ensemble." (4) Though "visually unprepossessing" it is regarded as an important instrument because it was built by "the most forward-looking builder of the 1920's and 30's, and was the completion of a trio of organs in major London churches, the others being Westminster Cathedral and the Jesuit Church, Farm Street." (5) Damaged in the war, it was restored in 1946 and renovated in 1994. |
PHOTOGRAPHS
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Mid-nineteenth
Century Wandsworth
Map 1962 |
Drawing
of the Church
in Plain, when it became a school
Drawing from memory by Victor Whitby |
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Interior
of the church about 1910
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St.
Thomas's about 1930, after the building of the Tower
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The
new Bell - 1927
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The Old Pulpit that disappeared during the reordering in the 1960s
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St
Thomas a Becket Church today
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