St Thomas' Church was in Albany Road,

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, West Midlands, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, but by 1973 was no longer in ecclesiastical use.

History

The church was designed by the

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

architects

Sharpe and Paley Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under variou ...

, and was built in 1848–49. The foundation stone was laid on 2 March 1848, and the church was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

on 7 August 1849 by the

Bishop of Coventry The Bishop of Coventry is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichf ...

. The cost of the building was £3,721 (equivalent to £ in ). Towards this cost, £630 was given by the Coventry Archidiaconal Society, £230 by the Church Building Commissioners, and £230 by the Incorporated Church Building Society. The stone for the church was provided by

Lord Leigh Baron Leigh has been created twice as a hereditary title, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The writer Jane Austen is associated with this dynasty. The first creation came in the Peerage of England ...

from a quarry on his estate at

Stoneleigh Abbey Stoneleigh Abbey is an English country house and estate situated south of Coventry. Nearby is the village of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. The Abbey itself is a Grade I listed building. History In 1154 Henry II of England, ...

. The church was declared

redundant Redundancy or redundant may refer to: Language * Redundancy (linguistics), information that is expressed more than once Engineering and computer science * Data redundancy, database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more table ...

in 1974 and demolished in 1976.

Architecture

The architectural style of the church was Decorated. Its plan consisted of a five-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

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 ...

with a

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

, north and south

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

s, a three-bay

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

with

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fi ...

, a north porch, and a northwest bell turret. The bell turret was octagonal, surmounted by a cross, and decorated with

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the Old French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of a crocket to a bishop's Shepherd's crook, ...

-like round ornaments. The east window had three main lights, the windows along the sides of the aisles, two lights, and the west window, four lights above which were two

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

s and a large sexfoil. There were five windows on each side of the clerestory. Inside the church the open timber roof of the nave was supported by

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s in the form of angels carrying shields.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas Church, Coventry Former Church of England church buildings Coventry, St Thomas' Church Churches completed in 1849 19th-century Church of England church buildings Sharpe and Paley buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in England Coventry, St Thomas' Church Churches in Coventry Coventry, St Thomas' Church 1849 establishments in England

History

Architecture

See also

References