St Thomas' Church, Pendleton

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox church | name = St Thomas' Church, Pendleton | full_name = | image = Pendleton Church.jpg | image_size = 200 | alt = | landscape = | caption = St Thomas' Church, Pendleton, from the southwest | pushpin_map = Greater Manchester | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_mapsize = 250 | pushpin_label_position = | map_caption = Location in Greater Manchester | location = Broad Street, [[Pendleton, Greater Manchester|Pendleton]], [[City of Salford|Salford]], [[Greater Manchester]] | country = England | coordinates = {{coord|53.4921|-2.2857|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title}} | osgraw = SJ 811 995 | denomination = [[Anglican]] | churchmanship = [[Anglo-Catholicism|Modern Catholic]] | website = [http://www.salfordallsaintsteamministry.org.uk/our-churches/st-thomas/ St Thomas, Pendleton] | former_name = | founded = {{Start date and age|1767|df=yes}} | founder = Samuel Brierley | dedication = [[Thomas the Apostle|Saint Thomas]] | dedicated = | consecrated = | events = | status = [[Parish church]] | functional_status = Active | heritage_designation = Grade II | designated = 18 January 1980 | architect = [[Francis Goodwin (architect)|Francis Goodwin]] and [[Richard Lane (architect)|Richard Lane]] | architectural_type = [[Church (building)|Church]] | style = [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] | groundbreaking = 1829 | completed = 1831 | construction_cost = | closed = | demolished = | capacity = | length = | width = | height = | materials = Stone | parish = Pendleton and Claremont | deanery = Salford & Leigh | archdeaconry = Salford & Leigh | diocese = [[Anglican Diocese of Manchester|Manchester]] | province = [[Province of York|York]] | rector = Rev Peter Bennett | vicar = | priest = | pastor = | abbot = }}

'''St Thomas' Church''' is on Broad Street, [[Pendleton, Greater Manchester|Pendleton]], [[City of Salford|Salford]], [[Greater Manchester]], England. It is an active [[Anglican]] [[parish church]] in the deanery of Salford, the archdeaconry of Salford, and the [[Anglican Diocese of Manchester|diocese of Manchester]]. Its [[benefice#Church of England|benefice]] is united with those of five nearby churches including St Aidan’s, Lower Kersal; St Luke’s, Weaste; Emmanuel LEP, Langworthy and Holy Angels, Claremont to form the Salford All Saints' Team Ministry.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.achurchnearyou.com/pendleton-st-thomas/| title = St Thomas, Pendleton, Salford| access-date = 30 January 2012| publisher = [[Church of England]]}}</ref> The church is designated by [[English Heritage]] as a Grade II [[listed building]].<ref name=nhl>{{NHLE |num= 1386093|desc= Church of St Thomas, Salford|accessdate= 30 January 2012|mode=cs2}}</ref> It was a [[Commissioners' church]], having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.<ref name=port>{{Citation | last = Port| first = M. H.| year = 2006| title = 600 New Churches: The Church Building Commission 1818-1856 | edition = 2nd| publication-place = Reading| publisher = Spire Books| page = 335| isbn = 978-1-904965-08-4}}</ref>

==History==

The church was built between 1829 and 1831 to a design by [[Francis Goodwin (architect)|Francis Goodwin]] and [[Richard Lane (architect)|Richard Lane]].<ref name=pev>{{Citation | last1 =Hartwell | first1 =Clare | last2 = Hyde | first2 = Matthew | last3 = Pevsner | first3 = Nikolaus | author3-link = Nikolaus Pevsner | series= The Buildings of England| title =Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East | publisher =[[Yale University Press]] | year =2004 | location =New Haven and London | page = 640| isbn =0-300-10583-5 }}</ref> A grant of £6,673 ({{Inflation|UK|6673|1831|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}){{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y|mode=cs2}} was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission.<ref name=port/>

==Architecture==

===Exterior=== St Thomas' is constructed in [[ashlar]] stone. The architectural style is [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]]. Its plan consists of a five-[[bay (architecture)|bay]] [[nave]], north and south [[aisle]]s, a [[chancel]] and a west tower. The tower is in three stages with polygonal [[pilaster]]s at the corners, and an [[battlement|embattled]] [[parapet]] with [[pinnacle]]s. It has a west door with a three-light window above, porches on the north and south sides, clock faces, and three-light bell openings. The aisles also have embattled parapets, and each bay contains a three-light window with [[English Gothic architecture#Decorated Gothic|Decorated]] [[tracery]]. At the east end of the aisles are blind windows. The chancel has a [[lancet window]] on the north and south sides, a six-light east window with [[English Gothic architecture#Perpendicular Gothic|Perpendicular]] tracery, and polygonal [[buttress]]es.<ref name=nhl/>

===Interior=== Inside the church the [[arcade (architecture)|arcades]] are carried on slim Perpendicular [[pier (architecture)|piers]]. There are galleries on three sides. The west gallery has a [[canopy (building)|canopy]] carved with the [[Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom|royal arms]] of [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]]. The side galleries have been filled in for use as a chapel and meeting rooms. The stained glass in the chapel is by [[Hardman & Co.|Hardman]] and depicts scenes from the life of [[Thomas the Apostle|Saint Thomas]]. The glass in the east window, dating from the 1840s, is also probably by Hardman.<ref name=pev/> The three-[[manual (music)|manual]] organ was built in 1839 by [[Samuel Renn]] and restored in about 1920 by Jardine and Company.<ref>{{National Pipe Organ Register|id=N02173|mode=cs2|access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref> There is a [[ring of bells|ring]] of eight bells, all cast in 1906 by [[John Taylor & Co]].<ref>{{Citation | url = http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=pendleton&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=SALFORD+M4| title = Salford, Pendleton, S Thomas| access-date = 30 January 2012| publisher = [[Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers]]}}</ref>

===External features=== The churchyard contains the war graves of four soldiers of the [[First World War]], who are all commemorated by special memorial, and a soldier of the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/41155/PENDLETON%20%28ST.%20THOMAS%29%20CHURCHYARD| title = PENDLETON (ST. THOMAS) CHURCHYARD| access-date = 6 February 2013| publisher = [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]}}</ref>

==Notable people== *[[Leal Douglas]], Australian actress, was christened at St Thomas's in 1881.<ref>''Baptisms solemnized in the Parish of Eccles church of St Thomas Pendleton in the Year of our Lord 1881'', [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/2960/40364_605905_0229-00041?pid=1374572 p. 74] at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 14 April 2020 {{subscription required}}</ref>

==See also== {{portal|Greater Manchester}} *[[List of churches in Greater Manchester]] *[[Listed buildings in Salford, Greater Manchester]] *[[List of Commissioners' churches in Northeast and Northwest England]] *[[List of works by Francis Goodwin]]

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendleton, St Thomas' Church}} [[Category:Church of England church buildings in Greater Manchester]] [[Category:Grade II listed churches in the City of Salford]] [[Category:Churches completed in 1831]] [[Category:19th-century Church of England church buildings]] [[Category:Anglican Diocese of Manchester]] [[Category:Commissioners' church buildings]] [[Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in Greater Manchester]]