St Thomas' Church is on Broad Street, Pendleton,

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England. It is an active Anglican

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the deanery of Salford, the archdeaconry of Salford, and the diocese of Manchester. Its 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. The church is designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It was a

Commissioners' church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplie ...

, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.

History

The church was built between 1829 and 1831 to a design by Francis Goodwin and Richard Lane. A grant of £6,673 () was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission.

Architecture

Exterior

St Thomas' is constructed in ashlar stone. The architectural style is Gothic Revival. Its plan consists of a five- bay

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, north and south

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

s, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

and a west tower. The tower is in three stages with polygonal

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s at the corners, and an embattled

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

with pinnacles. 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 Decorated

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

. 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

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

tracery, and polygonal

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es.

Interior

Inside the church the arcades are carried on slim Perpendicular piers. There are galleries on three sides. The west gallery has a

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...

carved with the royal arms of

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

. The side galleries have been filled in for use as a chapel and meeting rooms. The stained glass in the chapel is by Hardman and depicts scenes from the life of Saint Thomas. The glass in the east window, dating from the 1840s, is also probably by Hardman. The three- manual organ was built in 1839 by

Samuel Renn Samuel Renn (10 June 1786 – 11 January 1845) was an English organ builder who ran a business in Stockport, and later he traded in Manchester. The surviving instruments are mainly in churches, although a house organ is also known. Renn was bo ...

and restored in about 1920 by Jardine and Company. There is a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of eight bells, all cast in 1906 by

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...

External features

The churchyard contains the war graves of four soldiers of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, who are all commemorated by special memorial, and a soldier of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Notable people

Leal Douglas Leal Douglas (born Lilly Elizabeth Annie Lamb; 25 March 1881 – 3 February 1970) was a British-Australian actress, mainly of the silent film era. Of Scottish and English parents, Douglas emigrated to Australia as a child and began her stag ...

, Australian actress, was christened at St Thomas's in 1881.''Baptisms solemnized in the Parish of Eccles church of St Thomas Pendleton in the Year of our Lord 1881''
p. 74
at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 14 April 2020

References

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