The Church of Saint Thomas is a

Grade II* 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, H ...

listed

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, ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

in the

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 ...

of England. Known locally as 'Top Church', as opposed to the 'Bottom Church' of St. Edmund's, it was originally established in the 12th century, when it was dedicated to

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

who had been murdered a few years before. The church is mentioned in a Papal Declaration of 1182, which granted it to the nearby Priory of St. James. At some point in its history, the church's dedication changed to the Apostle St Thomas. The current building dates from the 19th century. It was rebuilt in 1815 under an act of parliament after the existing building was declared unsafe, for a cost of £12,650. On 7 September 1940, the Luftwaffe dropped a bomb opposite the front of the church, blowing out most of the windows and leaving shrapnel damage which is still evident. The church is in the

Anglican Diocese of Worcester The Diocese of Worcester forms part of the Church of England (Anglican) Province of Canterbury in England. The diocese was founded around 679 by St Theodore of Canterbury at Worcester to minister to the kingdom of the Hwicce, one of the many ...

, despite the town of Dudley being transferred into the county of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

in 1966, and later the

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 ...

upon its creation in 1974. The church's original

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

, Dudley St. Thomas, was abolished in 1969 to form the current Dudley St. Thomas & St. Luke Ecclesiastical Parish. The church building was granted Grade II* listed status in 1949.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudley, Church of Saint Thomas Church of Saint Thomas Church of England church buildings in the West Midlands (county) Grade II* listed buildings in Birmingham Grade II* listed churches in the West Midlands (county) English churches dedicated to St Thomas Becket