Our History
Beginnings
St Thomas’ Church was established at a time of flux in the mid-Victorian Church of England, when the Catholic Revival and the Evangelical Revival were pulling in opposite directions.
Rev. Joseph Armytage, a curate at St Mary’s, left that church because of a disagreement with the Vicar of Lancaster over the style of services; with financial help from the prominent Salisbury merchant family he arranged for a new evangelical church to be built near the canal at the south end of town.
Work began in March 1840 and the church took a year to build, at a cost of £1,200. The new building - designed by well-known local architect Edmund Sharpe - could seat 1,000 people, though the outside looked much as it does today (the steeple was added in 1852).
‘A Precious Cornerstone’
The first service at the new Church was held on the evening of 14th April 1841, with a 90 minute sermon by Rev David James of Liverpool based on Isaiah 28:16 (“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic”).
Joseph Armytage went on to be the first vicar, serving 1841-1845, before giving way to Rev. Colin Campbell. Rev. Campbell invested a great deal of his own money into the church building (including funding a spire, a grand organ, a school, a vicarage, and staff houses). When he died in post in the late ‘50s, his son - also called Colin - then took over for a time, before moving to be Vicar of Ambleside.
Changing Church
However, these peaceable transitions were disrupted in the 20th century by the demolition of slum housing around the church and subsequent tenant rehousing outside the parish boundary; this threatened the Church with congregation losses and closures several times until the late 1950s. Thankfully, the congregation adjusted and grew, with a high proportion of St Thomas’ worshippers now living outside the parish boundary.
One landmark in this period was the season of charismatic renewal from the late 1970s onwards, when the church and many of its members were touched and filled by the Holy Spirit. New spiritual gifts were exercised alongside new ministries and worship styles, as well as a re-energised commitment to mission and evangelism.
These gifts from God, and the outworking of them within and beyond the congregation, have continued to shape the ministry of St Thomas’ since that time, and significantly helped to shape the church into what it is today.
Do come along and find out how we’re still sharing God’s love from the heart of the city, over 150 years later!
The full history of the church can be found in the book ‘To Love and Serve the Lord: The Story of St Thomas, Lancaster, 1841-2010’ by Chris Park (2015), available: