ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH.

The church of St. Thomas lies in one of the first areas to be settled when the city began to grow up to the north of the new cathedral during the first half of the 13th century, and there is no reason to doubt the tradition that the foundation of the church dates from the time of this settlement. The first mention of any chapel or church dedicated to St. Thomas occurs in 1238 when Robert, Rector of St. Thomas's chapel, Salisbury, appears as witness to a deed. A parish of St. Thomas existed in 1246, for that yeare an agreement had to be reached between the treasurer of the cathedral and the Rector of St. Thomas's about the allotment of funeral candles of persons dying within that parish, but wishing to be buried in the cathedral. The extent of the parish was said, in 1269, when the bounds of the newlyformed parish of St. Edmund and the existing parish of St. Martin were defined, to comprise all the area within the city outside the Close and not included in either of the other two parishes. At the same time the church of Stratford with all its appurtenances was said to form part of the parish, but no other reference to any connexion between the two churches has been found.

In 1363 permission was granted for the appropriation of the church for six years by the dean and chapter. The proceeds were to be applied to the repair of the fabric of the cathedral, which was then causing concern, and a vicarage was to be endowed for St. Thomas's. The advowson at this time belonged to the Bishop of Salisbury, and was not included in the grant of the rectory to the dean and chapter. In 1387 a presentation by the king was contested by Walter Mabely, clerk. The bishop did not dispute the king's right to present on the occasion in question, and the matter was finally settled in 1394, when an exchange was made between the incumbent of St. Thomas's and the incumbent of Ivinghoe (Bucks.). In 1399 permission was granted for Richard Metford, Bishop of Salisbury, to grant the advowson to the dean and chapter, and for the dean and chapter to appropriate the rectory permanently to the fabric fund. The chapter was to provide a secular chaplain to serve the church, and the chaplain was to distribute a 'proper sum' among the poor of the parish — a payment still being made at Easter, in 1535.

The Pope confirmed this grant in 1401. No provision was made for any endowment for the incumbent, and henceforth the church was served by a curate, who was often a member of the chapter, or became a member after his appointment to St. Thomas's. A connexion with the dean and chapter is apparent even before the church was appropriated for the first time in 1363, for in 1269 the Rector of St. Thomas's was the succentor of the cathedral. The living remained a perpetual curacy until 1875 when the incumbent assumed the status of titular vicar.

In 1291 the church was valued at £10. In 1535 the annual value of the rectory was said to be £34 17s. 7d. gross, and £30 0s. 9d. net. It was then the most valuable single asset belonging to the fabric fund. A payment of £2 4s. was made to a priest, also described as a collector and receiver. At the same date an annual pension of 13s. 4d. was being paid to St. Thomas's from the priory of Easton Royal.

In 1400 a dispute arose concerning the tithes due to the incumbent of St. Thomas's from the bishop's mill, which lay in the parish. The bishop had compounded for these at some earlier date with an annual pension of 6s. 8d., but in 1400 the incumbent claimed the actual profits and tithes instead of the rent. The dispute was referred to the treasurer of the cathedral, who awarded that in future the bishop should pay the incumbent 20s. a year.

Since tithes formed only a very small part of the church's income, it depended upon various other sources of revenue. In 1545 collections made at Easter and during the special festivities held in Whitsun week brought in a large part of the annual income. Fees for the use of the font taper, the cross candlesticks, and the pall were also a source of revenue in the middle of the 16th century. In the second half of the century these ways of collecting money gave way to the 'Easter Book', in which were recorded the graded sums payable by all parishioners at Easter. In 1567–8 this brought in £26. In 1579–80 the sum was £100 11s. 11½d. At the beginning of the 17th century the 'Easter Book' was replaced by a special rate to meet the cost of church repairs. After 1638 rates were levied nearly every year. In 1641–2 there was a rate for the church amounting to £32 11s. 7d., and a parish rate of £20 8s. 10d. In 1663–4 the vestry ordered that every parishioner contributing to the poor rate should make a payment for bread and wine on behalf of himself, his family and his apprentices, and every parishioner should pay 4d. as Easter dues.

Other sources of revenue were charges for banns, weddings, churchings, christenings and graves, bequests, donations from guilds and pew rents. In the 16th century pews were rented sometimes for life, sometimes for a fixed period. A fine was charged for changing pews.For much of the 16th and 17th centuries the vestry farmed the rectory from the chapter, and paid all expenses including a salary to the incumbent. In 1567–8 the farm was £6. In 1583–4 it was raised to £10. In 1637 and again in 1641 the vestry tried to obtain a new lease, but this was not achieved before the chapter lost its authority in the 1640's. Soon after the Restoration a new farm was negotiated. By this the chapter leased all the profits of the benefice to the vestry for 21 years in return for a rent of £2 a year.

Between 1545 and 1637 the salary paid to the curate by the vestry rose from £10 to £13 6s. 8d. In 1645 when John Conant was curate (see below) an attempt was made to get a fixed endowment for the incumbent from Parliament, and in 1649 he was said to be receiving £150 a yeare allowed him by the Committee of Plundered Ministers. This was apparently augmented by voluntary subscriptions collected throughout the parish. In 1663 when the new lease of the revenues was made the vestry agreed to pay the curate £13 6s. 8d. a year. In 1812 the living received a grant of £200 from the Parliamentary Fund, and in 1818 another grant of £1,000 from the same fund. In 1831 the annual gross and net incomes were £118, and the curate's stipend was then £50. At the instigation of Bishop Denison subscriptions were again collected in the parish in 1851 in an attempt to provide a more adequate salary. In 1862 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners endowed the living with £100 a year.

In the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries the vestry paid a rent to the city chamberlain for the curate's house. In 1649 the corporation bought four canonical houses in the Close for the four presbyterian ministers then in the city. John Conant lived in the house allotted to the incumbent of St. Thomas's until his death in 1653. After the Restoration the city churches failed to retain these houses and no residence was provided for the curate until Bishop Denison secured another house in the Close for him. In 1646 the parish clerk was also allowed the rent for a house, which in fact he had been receiving for some years already.

In 1380 there were 26 chaplains and 11 unbeneficed clergy attached to the church. In 1394 in addition to the parochial chaplain, there were 14 chantry chaplains. The earliest mention of a chantry in the church occurs in 1380, when Amesbury Priory was licensed to alienate an annual rent of 10 marks from its manor of Bulford to support a chaplain celebrating daily for the souls of the king and Robert Godmanstone (mayor 1355) and his family. The following yeare the canons of Maiden Bradley were licensed to alienate a similar rent from lands in Homington for the support of another chaplain celebrating for the souls of Robert Godmanstone and his family. In 1535 these two endowments were still supporting two chaplains. One of the chaplains had a lodging next the churchyard, for which he paid 2s. to the Bishop of Salisbury. Both chaplains received 13s. 4d. tithes from an unknown source. In 1545 the net value of the two chantries was £14 9s. 4d. Both chaplains then lived in a house with garden in the churchyard. Presentations of a chaplain by the dean and chapter were made to a chantry of St. Bartholomew in 1404 and 1408. In 1410 a chapel of St. Stephen had been in existence sufficiently long to need repairing, for in his will, dated that year, George Meriot left money for its rebuilding. A chapel of the Holy Trinity is mentioned in 1447 when Robert Warmwell (mayor 1380) left 8 marks annually for a chaplain to pray there for his soul.

In 1448, as part of the rebuilding after the collapse of the chancel roof (see below), William Swayne (mayor 1445, 1454, and 1477) founded two chantries in the newly-built south chancel aisle. One with an altar to the Virgin was for himself and his family, and the other with an altar to St. John the Baptist was for the tailors' guild (see below). In 1472 Swayne presented a chaplain to his own chantry, but all other recorded presentations were by the chapter. In 1535 the chaplain of this chantry had property in Salisbury worth £16 13s. 4d. and tithes from an unknown source worth £1 5s. 10Ύd. He paid a rent of 7s. 10d. to the Bishop of Salisbury, and distributed £2 11s. 8d. in alms. He also paid 15s. to Reynold of Tidworth's chantry in St. Edmund's Church. In 1545 his salary was £13 6s. 7d. and the net value of the chantry was £14 3s. 10d.

In 1447 the tailors' guild moved its chantry chapel from St. Thomas's to St. Edmund's. In 1449, however, the guild resumed its connexion with St. Thomas's and established its chapel in the south chancel aisle built by Swayne. In 1545 the tailors had one chaplain in St. Thomas's receiving £5 6s. 8d., and the chantry's income from lands and tenements was £9 3s. 2d. Lights of the fraternity of the barber-surgeons in St. Thomas's are mentioned in 1458 when John Winchester, a member of the craft, bequeathed money for their upkeep, and property in the city for an annual obit. In 1535 the chaplain of a chantry founded by William Warwick received £10 13s. 4d. a yeare from lands in the city. Out of this he paid 6s. 2½d. rent to the bishop, 16s. to Reynold of Tidworth's chantry in St. Edmund's, and 8s. alms to the poor and imprisoned. In 1545 he received £6 13s. 3d., and the net annual income was £9 16s. 9½d. In 1548 there was a chantry of 'Jesus Mass' endowed with lands devised by Thomas Brodgate and valued at £7 2s. 7d. At the same date two obits were endowed. One had an annual income of 13s. 4d. for a chaplain to celebrate on St. Luke's day, and the other had 40s. a yeare from a tenement in Butcher Row to pay for prayers for one William Harold.

Pews were allotted for the mayor and corporation and their families as they were in the other two city churches. There is no evidence that the fraternity of St. George, the guild of the mayor and corporation, had its chapel in St. Thomas's, but 'the George' taken down in 1547–8 may refer to the emblem belonging to that guild. In 1556 the three annual dirges, for which the mayor and corporation paid, and which had previously been celebrated in the church, were revived. In 1579 the mayor was elected in St. Thomas's instead of in St. Edmund's on account of the plague then prevalent near St. Edmund's.

The only two churchwardens' accounts surviving for the reign of Henry VIII suggest that little change took place in that reign in the form of service. There is evidence of some change early in the reign of Edward VI, although many of the preReformation ceremonies and rituals persisted. After a visit by the commissioners in 1547–8 the church was cleared, and 'images' were defaced and removed. In 1549–50 two communion books called 'the ordinal' were bought for the curate and clerk. No fault was found with the fittings or fabric of the church on Bishop Capon's visitation in 1552, although it was presented that the choir talked during services. In 1557–8 the rood was taken down, and 'rubble' was removed from around the altar. In 1560–1 a book of Paraphrases was bought and texts were painted on the walls of the church. 'Moyse's tables' were set at the High Altar. In 1572–3 two books of prayer for use at morning service were bought.

In 1600 there was a complaint that no sermon was preached at St. Thomas's. By his will dated 1617 Christopher Eyre, merchant of London, son of Thomas Eyre, alderman of Salisbury, left £20 a yeare to provide for a weekly lecture to be given in the church. The money was vested in the city chamber, and the mayor and corporation with Eyre's executors were to approve the lecturers. The first lecturer was John Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury (1621–41). In 1851 the delivery of this lecture on Sunday evenings made St. Thomas's the only church in the city to have an evening service.

In 1641 the vestry wished to appoint the pronounced puritan, John Conant, curate, but were unable to do so while the chapter retained its authority. In 1645 Conant, then a member of the Westminster Assembly, was appointed, and remained at Salisbury until his death in 1653. During this period the pulpit was moved to a place near the curate's seat, and the font re-erected in full view of the congregation. Both were restored to their former position in 1660. Conant preached twice every Sunday. During his incumbency he acted as chaplain to the mayor and corporation, and in 1649 was invited to attend and bless council meetings. Conant was succeeded by William Eyre (incumbent of St. Martin's 1649–53), who was a member of the Wiltshire Committee for Scandalous Ministers. In 1660 Eyre was replaced by Thomas Henchman, although he retained the lectureship (see above) until 1662.

Between the Restoration and the middle of the 19th century chapter dignitaries as well as minor canons and vicars choral held the curacy. In 1696 the precentor, Daniel Whitby, the writer on religious toleration, held it. When Bishop Denison came to Salisbury in 1837 he found that the curate never visited the church except to collect his fee. After Denison's arrangement for increasing the stipend (see above), and the appointment of a full-time curate, which followed, an improvement in church affairs began.

The church of ST. THOMAS is built of stone and flint and consists of nave and chancel, both with aisles, and a south tower with its lower stage forming a porch. A cruciform church built in the first half of the 13th century is thought to have formed the core of the present building. A chapel was built against the south side of the chancel in the second half of the 13th century, and this may have been St. Stephen's chapel (see above). The next addition to the structure was the Godmanstone chantry (see above), which was built on the north side of the chancel in the later 14th century.

In 1400 Thomas de Boyton bequeathed 20 marks for work on the bell tower then being built on the south side of the church. The dean and chapter lent 12 marks for the same work in 1404. The tower at this date stood away from the church. In 1447 the roof of the chancel collapsed. An agreement was then made between the chapter, who as rectors were responsible for rebuilding it, and a number of wealthy parishioners including William and Henry Swayne, John Hall, and members of the Godmanstone family. The parishioners undertook to rebuild and lengthen the south side, and the chapter to do exactly the same on the north side. At the same time the south chancel aisle was rebuilt and lengthened by William Swayne (see above) to correspond with the new chancel. The lengthening of the north chancel aisle was undertaken by members of the Godmanstone and Hungerford families. The roof of this aisle was provided by William Ludlow of Hill Deverill in c. 1450.

The whole body of the church was evidently remodelled in the late 15th century giving a lofty clerestoried nave of five bays with richly carved roof, and north and south aisles forming a continuation of the chancel aisles. The north side of the bell tower then became part of the south wall of the south aisle. Traces of 15th-century wall paintings were found inside the porch beneath the tower at the beginning of the 20th century, but were beyond restoration. A detailed plan of the completed church as it was before the alterations and restoration of the 19th century was made by John Lyons in 1745, who also made drawings of the north-west and south-east views of the church at that date. Soon after the completion of clerestory and nave roof about the end of the 15th century the wellknown Doom painting was executed over the chancel arch. In 1593 the arch was whitewashed, and a few years later the royal arms were placed above it. In 1880 the whitewash was stripped, and the royal arms moved to their present position over the south door. The Doom painting was considerably retouched with oil paint in the 19th century. In 1958 the easternmost truss of the nave roof was repainted in accordance with the original colours found in 1953.

Traces of the original wall paintings remain in the south chancel aisle. On the north wall are paintings of the Annunciation, the Salutation, and the Adoration. Pots of lilies and the badge of the Order of the Garter form part of the decoration. The Garter was probably used in honour of Bishop Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury (1450–81), Chaplain and Chancellor of the Most Noble Order. The decorations on the beams of the roof include Swayne's merchant mark and his arms, and the inscriptions 'Pray for the soul of James father of William Swayne', and 'Pray for the souls of William Swayne and Chrystian his wife'. The stained glass of the east window, which is contemporary with the building of the aisle, was re-arranged and re-leaded at the beginning of the 19th century. Much of the glass is missing but a representation of the Assumption, and the merchant marks of William Swayne, John Webb and other prominent members of the tailors' guild can still be distinguished. Two painted alabaster monuments to members of the Eyre family were removed from the chancel to the south chancel aisle in 1724, and reset above a carved reredos enclosed by wrought iron railings, beneath which was a new family vault. Moved from the south porch to the south aisle is a memorial to Humphrey Beckham, chamberlain of the joiners' guild in 1621, and warden in 1635, carved by himself. The churchwardens' accounts show Beckham to have undertaken other carving and joinery work in the church. There are fragments of a Jesse window in the north chancel aisle. The three-storied vestry to the north of the north chancel aisle was built in 1465–7, possibly as a house for the chaplain of Swayne's chantry (see above). Beams moved from the lower room at the beginning of the 20th century bore the inscription 'Pray for the souls of William Swayne and his wife'. This room was used as a skull house until 1687. A threelight window in the east wall contains 15th-century glass. A bier house stood on the west of the bell tower in 1530. In 1620 it was converted into a house for the sexton. This is shown on Lyons's plan but was destroyed early in the 19th century.

In 1835 a north porch with room above, shown on Lyons's plan was removed, but its stair turret still remains. Between 1850 and 1860 the chancel floor was raised, the high pews removed from the chancel, and the alabaster altar piece and oak screens added. In 1875 the nave was restored, and the high pews replaced. Ten years later the chancel screen was erected, and the south chancel aisle prepared for daily services. Many repairs were carried out between 1902 and 1905 at a cost of over £5,000. In 1568–9 a new organ was purchased for £7 13s. 5d. raised by a special collection among parishioners. This was replaced by another in 1738. In 1877 the organ presented to the cathedral by George III in 1792 was given to St. Thomas's. It has subsequently been reconstructed. A font of late Norman date, and believed to have come originally from St. Thomas's, was retrieved from a neighbouring garden in 1895. A new font was erected in memory of a former vicar W. G. Birkbeck (d. 1900). The pulpit with sounding board above was replaced by the present one in 1877. No early inventories of plate exist for St. Thomas's. A silver gilt chalice was bequeathed with other church goods to the altar of St. Michael there by William Warmwell (d. 1399). The 16th-century churchwardens' accounts show that on several occasions after 1546 church goods were sold, and in 1584–5 new communion cups were made. In the 17th century the church received a number of gifts of flagons and salvers. In 1867 all the plate was remodelled. Two patens bear the inscription 'Recast from previous gift of Henry March 1689', and a flagon is inscribed 'Recast from previous gifts by Augustine Abbot 1597, and Richard Eyre 1682'.

St. Thomas's has a peal of eight bells. The 5th was the gift of John Wyndham in 1683, and was recast by Wells of Aldbourne in 1771. Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 were all cast by Wells, and all except number 3, which bears no date, are dated 1771. The 8th was cast by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester in 1716.Two quarter-jacks, removed from their place under the clock beside the quarter bells on the tower in 1896, stand in the south porch. They were first put up in 1582.

The registers date from 1570 and are complete. The series of churchwardens' accounts begin in 1545 and those between this date and 1689–90 have been printed. In 1646 the churchyard was closed for burials for seven years, and the vestry asked for permission to use their 'ancient burying ground' within the Close. In the 18th century the churchyard was said to be a disgrace and a scandal, and the ground to be raised so high by the numerous burials that the lower windows of the church were partially obscured. In 1713 the churchwardens were ordered to lower the level by the removal of ½ foot of earth every year. The churchyard was finally closed for burials in 1854.