St Thomas Church (previously St Thomas & St Clement Church) is a disused

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, ...

parish church in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, England. An earlier St Thomas Church (which itself replaced a church dedicated to

St Petroc Petroc or Petrock (; ; ; ) was a British prince and Christian saint. Probably born in South Wales, he primarily ministered to the Britons of Devon (Dewnens) and Cornwall (Kernow) then forming the kingdom of Dumnonia where he is associated wit ...

which fell into decay in the 14th century following the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

) was in St Thomas Street. It was demolished in 1845 and replaced by the present church, about 100m away in Southgate Street.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

remarked that ''it is the most ambitious Victorian church in Winchester, and it is remarkable that it should be so early; for it is ‘archaeological’, i.e. no longer uninformed in its Gothic motifs and their handling''. The new church joined the parishes of St Thomas and St Clement and contained around 2,500 souls. The new church was consecrated on 16 April 1847 by the Bishop of Winchester. This church closed in 1969 and for a while housed the Hampshire Record Office. At that time it was listed Grade II and remains on the statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest with the name of Hampshire Record Office. The Record Office moved to a new building and the church, called the St Thomas Centre, was used as charity offices until about 2010. It is now in the process of being converted into housing, with nine flats and properties being created inside the building.

Organ

The first organ was by Bishop and Son with additions by J.W. Walker and Sons. In 1957 it was replaced by a pipe organ dating from 1756 by Father Smith which was originally in

St Maurice's Church, Winchester St Maurice's Church, Winchester was a parish church in the Church of England in Winchester, Hampshire. The parish was united with that of St Mary Kalendar and the old church was taken down in March 1840, rebuilt to designs by the architect Will ...

. When St Thomas closed, the organ moved to St Deny's Church, Portswood, Southampton. A specification of the organ can be found on the

National Pipe Organ Register The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winchester St Thomas Church of England church buildings in Hampshire Grade II listed churches in Hampshire St Thomas