History

Picture of St. Thomas

The Parish Church of St. Thomas, Rhyl occupies the north east corner of a rectangular site bounded to the north and east by the principal thoroughfares of Russell Road and Bath Street respectively, at OS Grid Reference SJ010815. The site lies towards the north east of Rhyl town centre, within the boundaries of the Rhyl Central Conservation Area. The churchyard around the building is largely laid to lawn with hardstandings for vehicular and pedestrian access and car parking. The churchyard does not contain burials but presents a pleasant urban setting, with a number of mature trees immediately inside the low stone wall which separates the churchyard from the public footpaths along Russell Road and Bath Street.

As well as St Thomas, which is Listed Grade II*, the churchyard and immediate surrounds are also significant for the siting of Holy Trinity Church and Church House to the west, and nos. 12 and 14 Paradise Street to the south, all of which are individually Listed Grade II. 

The church of St Thomas owes its existence to the growth of Rhyl as a holiday resort in the early to mid C19th. As a direct result of this, by 1857, Holy Trinity Church, which until that time had fulfilled the Parish church role, was considered inadequate to cope with the spiritual needs of a growing population swelled by the seasonal influx of holidaymakers, and George Gilbert Scott was appointed as architect for a new church building. 

Scott’s plans were completed in 1860, and construction of St. Thomas began the following year with the laying of the foundation stone on Whit Monday, 20 May 1861. The Nave was completed first, and opened for worship in 1862, followed by the Chancel, flanked by the Lady Chapel to the south and Tower to the north, which were opened in July 1867. The church was eventually consecrated in March 1869, following which the spire surmounting the Tower, with its ornate clock gablets and shingle roof, was completed in 1875. Except for the Vestry block and link corridor to the south east of the church, built to the designs of John Oldrid Scott in 1910, there has been little alteration to the footprint of the building since.

Architecturally St. Thomas is considered to be a major essay in Scott’s (neo) Early English or ‘first pointed’ style, characterised by the use of twinned lancets, rose windows and plate tracery for window openings, deep moulded arches to door openings and restrained embellishment to other features, such as buttresses, in the external facades. 

In plan form the building comprises west doors set within a deeply recessed gabled opening which open into a 5 no. bay Nave with clerestories and flanking Aisles to the north and south. A single story gabled porch projects from the second bay eastwards of the North Aisle, and the link corridor to the later Vestry block extends southwards from the extreme east end of the South Aisle. East of the line of the Chancel arch the 2 no. bay Chancel, including Sanctuary, is flanked by the Lady Chapel to the south and Organ Loft (with 2 no. storey gabled porch behind) and Tower to the north. 

Externally the building is faced in squared, uncoursed, white Cefn rubble stone with a punched / chiselled finish now largely lost to erosion, with contrasting light buff limestone ashlar dressings used for feature work such as door and window surrounds, string and weathering courses, and buttress caps. Roofs are finished in natural Welsh blue / grey slate with matching colour clay capped angle ridges. The ornate capping to the Tower, with its octagonal broach spire rising above the gablets over the ornate iron skeleton clock faces on each side of the structure is clad in timber (assumed cedar) shingles.

Internally the wall finishes are largely painted plaster, including into window reveals, with contracting stone and marble features. The Nave arcades comprise square edged stepped arches carried on octagonal stone piers with engaged marble shafts, above which marble columns sub divide each bay of the clerestory walls into 3 no. arcades, the central, semi circular arch over the rose windows flanked by pointed arches over recessed painted panels each side. Attached marble shafts also embellish the Chancel arch, east window surround, and the arch between the Organ Loft and Chancel, whist the arcade between the Chancel and Lady Chapel is carried on a central column of clustered polished granite shafts. The lower areas of the Sanctuary walls are embellished with Early English style wall arcading, with marble shafts separating foliate carved panels against the wall surface.

Floors in the circulation areas of the Nave and side Aisles are finished in patterned red and black quarry tile diamonds with iron grating inlays over the heating ducts, those in the Nave having recent carpet overlay. The Chancel has encaustic tiles, and the marble steps to the Chancel and Sanctuary have encaustic tiles inlaid in the rises. The Lady Chapel has recent carpet over an assumed tiled base. 

The Nave roof is traditionally framed with principal trusses on the main grid lines, which have curved arch braces which extend down the clerestory as wallposts springing from a stone corbel block, and secondary trusses in mid bay, both of which have raised collars with short king posts. These carry 2 no purlins per side, the bottom of which has cusped bracing, and a ridge piece breaking the span of loose rafters. The soffit comprises painted plaster panels between the rafters and decorated wrought iron ties complete the roof framing. The mono pitch roofs over the Aisles have a similar arrangement of principal trusses and intermediate secondary rafters carrying a single purlin and loose rafters with painted panels between, which is replicated over the Lady Chapel, with a more ornate barrel vaulted timber roof formed from scissor braces to close-set rafters over the Chancel reflects its status.

Stained glass throughout the church is mainly by Ward and Hughes and is representative of the development of their style over the late C19 and early C20. The earliest pictorial work, dated 1860 and 1867, is in the Lady Chapel, followed by that in the Chancel east window. These, together with the work at the east ends of the Aisles fitted between 1866 and 1875, are composed in a neo medieval style, whilst the western windows in the side Aisles are more purely pictorial. Stylistically the later windows in the west walls of the Aisles, (1889 and 1905), are renaissance, possibly influenced by the work of Kempe.

Whilst many of the fittings and furnishings to the grand interior were not installed immediately, most are likely to have been part of the original design. It is known that the alabaster and Caen stone pulpit, marble font comprising bowl shaft and dais, choir stalls, and eagle lectern were all designed by Scott and included much naturalistic carving and detail in contrasting coloured marble and granite in their execution. The marble and painted reredos representing the crucifixion with flanking angels was also designed by the architect and added in 1891. 

The Tower houses a peal of 8 no. bells, and the organ, built in 1907 by William Hill, is understood to be a very fine instrument which has just undergone refurbishment and modernisation. Both contribute to the church’s recognised musical tradition.

The Parish church of St Thomas, Rhyl, holds special architectural interest in being designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, (1811–1878), who, despite being perceived by his parents as not being clever enough to go to University and architecturally trained in the classical idiom, went on to become one of the most significant and prolific Gothic revival architects of the C19th. Scott made his professional name at the age of 33, when he won the international competition to rebuild the St Nikolaikirche in Hamburg, adopting the C14th ‘Alte Deutsche’ style. He went on to become architect to Westminster Abbey, worked on all except 2 no. English cathedrals, and built or restored hundreds of churches from his professionally staffed office, which was, at the time, the largest in Europe. This enabled him to oversee, contemporary with the construction of St Thomas, a multitude of commissions (103 no. during 1867). 

As mentioned in Section 1 St. Thomas is recognised as a significant example of Scott’s use of the Early English or ‘first pointed’ style in a major commission, the church being the largest in the Diocese of St Asaph and the ceremonial civic church of the town capable of seating 400 people, and accommodating up to 1,000 at civic functions. The building is also an increasingly rare example where the significant liturgical fittings, designed by Scott specifically for the church, survive largely intact.

St Thomas also has great significant in the context of Rhyl’s economic and social history, owing its very existence to the need for a church capable of accommodating the town’s growth as a holiday destination during the C19th. After Scott’s plans were initially rejected by the Incorporated Church Building Society for a grant in 1860 the £13,000 cost of constructing the church was met by donations from inhabitants and holidaymakers, as stated in the local newspaper when the building was consecrated in March 1869:

‘Among the many objects that attract the stranger's attention on his first visit to Rhyl, the bold outlines of St. Thomas's Church are sure to claim his notice and admiration; standing as it does in the very heart of the town, it can be viewed with advantage from all points. This Church, we need hardly remind most of our readers, has been built almost solely out of the voluntary donations of the inhabitants and the visitors frequenting this delightful watering place.’

The Rhyl Record, 12 March 1869

The architectural qualities and historical importance of the building is reflected in its Grade II* Listed status, which ranks St Thomas in the top 6% of all Listed buildings in the UK. 

The churchyard and setting also hold great significance for the town of Rhyl, recognised by its Conservation Area status and the fact that the church directly addresses Holy Trinity church to the west, the former Parish church St. Thomas was built to replace. The churches, together with Church House and nos. 12 and 14 Paradise Street complete an ensemble of 5 no. Listed buildings within or directly addressing the site.