St Thomas's, Salisbury
The church of St Thomas is on the site of a church that was reputedly erected in the 1220s for the stonemasons then working on the building of Salisbury Cathedral, in the shadow of which it sits, just outside The Close.
What survives today is an elegant 15th century mercantile church, with a sumptuous interior and side aisles, almost as wide as the nave, all flooded with natural light.
Over the chancel arch is a large 'Doom' painting, one of the best surviving, showing Christ on two rainbows flanked by angels, holding symbols of the Passion, the Virgin, St John and the Heavenly City. The left-hand side shows the raising of the dead; the right, the damned at the mouth of Hell (including a bishop). The painting was whitewashed in the 1530s, uncovered in 1880s and most recently restored in 2019 as part of the re- ordering of the church by St Anne's Gate Architects, led by Anthony Feltham-King.
Luke Hughes was selected to design and make the seating, using a design variant of the 'Charterhouse' stacking pews, which accommodates more than 500 places for the congregation.
The project was the recipient of The President's Award 2021 (from the National Churches Trust) and an award for 'Outstanding work to an existing building 2023' by Salisbury Civic Society.
The new furniture now allows the building to stay relevant, generate revenue, be efficient to operate, whilst at the same time enable and enhance modern liturgy, as well as other secular purposes.
On the day of the dedication on 9 February 2020, just before Covid lockdown, the building was cleared after Sunday Eucharist for a local jazz festival in the evening - it took barely 15 minutes to move and stack the pews.
© photos by Luke Hughes and Andy Marshall @Fotofacade
Links:
https://www.stannsgate.com/project/the-church of-st-thomas-salisbury
https://easa.org.uk/2023/06/2023-uk-church-architecture-awards/
https://stthomassalisbury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/BriefHistory.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Thomas%27s_Church,_Salisbury
https://greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/salisbury-_st_thomas.html
