Acton: St Thomas
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 218 802
Building began at the east end and the church was erected in two distinct parts, twenty years apart in date and also in differing styles. Blomfield's design was followed for the chancel, vestries, transepts and two and a half bays of the nave and Mr. Pinchard's design for the western three bays of the nave.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave of five and a half bays, with rooms below a gallery in the west bay and aisles only in the bay next to the transepts; small south porch beside south transept. Chancel with vestries and organ chamber on the north side.
Description of Archaeology and History
The original building was designed by Arthur Blomfield Junior and the foundation stone was laid on 24 June 1914; later extensions westward were designed by Lester Pinchard and built in 1937-9. Arthur Conran Blomfield (1863-1935) was the second son of Sir Arthur Blomfield, to whom he was articled before setting up practice in 1881. He designed offices and banks, many in the City of London, and alterations to country houses as well as new churches. He was Architect to the Bank of England from 1900 and to Edward VII at Sandringham. Of Pinchard, little is known. The church. replaced the temporary iron mission church of St. Barnabas (built c.1889). The building of St. Thomas's was financed by the sale of the site of St. Thomas, Charterhouse, EC1, and £1,000 from the Bishop of London's Fund.
Exterior Description
Building began at the east end and the church was erected in two distinct parts, twenty years apart in date and also in differing styles. Blomfield's design was followed for the chancel, vestries, transepts and two and a half bays of the nave and Mr. Pinchard's design for the western three bays of the nave. The best view of the church is from the east, where the large polygonal apse of the chancel groups well with the smaller polygonal apse of the morning chapel on the south and the low roofs and taller gable of the organ chamber on the north. It is a robust and straightforward example of the churches built for expanding suburbs at this date. The windows have stone tracery, of two lights in the chancel apse, the south wall of the chapel and the north and south gables of the transepts and small single lights in the lesser apse of the south chapel. Each transept gable is also pierced by a sexfoil within a circle. The nave roof ends with a gable with stone coping and pinnacles and the chancel roof is slightly lower. The roofs project beyond the walls and curve slightly above the caves. One bay of the nave was built west of the transepts, with low aisles north and south, and from the south of these projects a small porch with a tympanum decorated with squares of brick set diagonally within the recessed arch. The spaces have no buttresses but the angles of the transepts have diagonal buttresses. The organ chamber on the north side has a cross gable and two tall lancets in the north wall.
Pinchard's work is even more austere. He did not continue the aisles, and the three western bays of the nave have three-light transomed windows in the Perpendicular style, the bays divided by simple buttresses. The roofline, however, is the same, and the west gable also has stone copings and supports on the apex stone figure of St. Thomas with a halo. The west front has no windows save a small rectangle light near the top, and the doorway in the centre is also Perpendicular in style with tracery in the spandrels between the four-centred arch and the rectangular hood. In 1972-3 a parish room was added on the north of the nave to designs by Hutchinson, Locke and Monk of Richmond, a single-storey design with vertical features covered with sloping tiled roofs and a turret for the bell at the north-west corner consisting of two vertical brick walls with the bell suspended between.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
Two roundels representing angels in the north and south transepts, brought from St. Thomas, Charterhouse.
Interior
Interior Description
The interior of the church is light and spacious, for there is virtually no stained glass. The nave is broad, with no aisles for three bays but a west gallory incorporating a peculiar screen of timber and plaster in an East Anglian style which provides two rooms and an inner porch on the ground floor as well as a recess on the south side for the font, and a gallery for the organ above. The floor of the nave is of parquet and that of the porch of reconstituted stone, three steps higher. The two wide and one narrow eastern bays of the arcades are open to north and south, first to aisles of one bay only and then to the wide transepts. The aisles were intended to run the whole length of the nave but were only to be passage aisles. The arcades have brick chamfered arches, now painted red, and quatrefoil piers of corn grit. The transepts are awkwardly joined since the arcade continues as though they did not exist, and they were presumably intended more as chapels than for use in conjunction with the body of the church. At the west corner of the south transopt is the foundation stone, recording the gift of the site by the Goldsmiths Company and the blessing of the stone by the Bishop of Kensington when it was laid by Sir Robert Mowbray, Bart in June 1914. From the south transept an arch opens into the morning chapel and from the north transept an arch in the corresponding position communicates with the vestries and chancel. The eastern part of the nave roof has cusped arch braces to the principals, twice as many as there are bays, and the western part is simpler.
The morning chapel is quite small, with a polygonal apse and boarded wooden ceiling now painted bright blue. The chancel also has a boarded ceiling, but on a rather larger scale, and painted red. The chancel arch is tall and wide, carried on half-round responds, and smaller arches originally opened on each side of it, although these are now blocked and form frames for statues of saints. Above these are blind arches at the level of the chancel arch imposts, are painted with figures of St. Thomas and the Blessed Virgin Mary by Nina Somerset, c.1930. The tall chancel windows provide ample light and the altar in the apse has been superseded by one at the east end of the nave, although the former retains its Italienate baroque crucifix and candlesticks of the 1920's. Three small arches within a relieving arch also franing a small round window open on the south into the morning chapel, and a wide arch at a higher level on the north opens into the space intended as an organ chamber, reached by an iron spiral staircase from the vestry below.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
Both the high altar and the altar in the south chapel are of oak, with gothic panelling on the front. There are also two free-standing altars.
Reredos
c.1920
The altar in the south chapel has a reredos which came from St. Mary's Perivale when that church was restored in 1965 (and where it blocked almost all the east window). It is of three sections in a Bodleyesque gothic with spiky cresting, and was erected in c.1920 as a war memorial.
Pulpit
The pulpit was designed by Blomfield, of oak, octagonal in plan with open arcaded sides and a moulded stone base.
Lectern
The lectern is of oak, an eagle on a pedestal, the eagle very much more spirited than usual.
Font (object)
c.1880
The font appears to be older than the church, a round bowl on a single column of polished marble.
Organ (object)
The organ is a two-manual instrument with sixteen speaking stops and electric action, moved to the west gallery by Noterman in c .1938.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 218 802
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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