St Thomas' Church, Stourbridge, is a

Grade I listed 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 ...

parish church in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...

West Midlands County West Midlands is a Metropolitan county, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the larger West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by Staffordshire to the north ...

, England.

History

The church dates from 1726. The chancel was added in 1890 by

William Bidlake William Henry Bidlake MA, FRIBA (12 May 1861 – 6 April 1938) was a British architect, a leading figure of the Arts and Crafts movement in Birmingham and Director of the School of Architecture at Birmingham School of Art from 1919 until 1924. ...

List of vicars

* Walter Hickman 1736 - 1742 * Charles Harris 1742 - 1782 * John Pattinson 1782 - 1808 * Joseph Taylor 1808 - 1833 * Giffard Wells 1833 - 1858 * Hugh Sherrard 1858 - 1908 * Thomas Ludovic Chavasse 1908 - 1909 * Thomas Graham Gilling-Lax 1910 - 1911 * Montague Stanhope Newland 1911 - 1944 * Thomas Whitney Uniacke Keith Murrey 1944 - 1951 * Robert Guy Pusey 1951 - 1959 * Basil Henry Trevor-Morgan 1959 - 1976 * Derek Leonard Barrett 1977 - 1991 * Stephen Hutchinson 1991 - 2003 * Ron Curtis 2005 - 2012 * ''

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

'' 2012 - 2015 * Andrew Sillis 2012–present

Organ

There are records of organ in the church dating from 1809 when an instrument was installed by

George Pike England George Pike England (ca.1765 – February 1815) was an English organ builder who was among the most prominent in England during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Life He was the son of organ builder George England and Mary Blasdale. He m ...

. There have been subsequent rebuildings and renovations over the years, resulting in a 3-manual and pedal pipe organ. A specification of the organ from 2017 can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Organists

* Samuel Simms 1809 - 1868 (succeeded by his son) * Samuel Simms 1868 - ???? (afterwards organist of

St John's Church, Ladywood The Church of St. John the Evangelist and St. Peter is a Grade II listed Church of England church of Ladywood, Birmingham, England. History The Church of St. John the Evangelist was built to designs by the architect Samuel Sanders Te ...

Birmingham)

References

{{Reflist

William Bidlake buildings