In the mid 19th century, East Wells – now St Thomas Street – was a ghetto for the poor and disreputable, even though it was only just beyond the Cathedral precincts. Dean Jenkyns took pity on these people and visited them, and when he died his widow Troth determined to build a church to continue his work. The well known Victorian architect S S Teulon was entrusted with the design and St Thomas was completed within three years of Jenkyn's death. Sadly by this time Troth herself was dead too, having caught a chill at the foundation-stone laying.
Dean Jenkyns
Troth Jenkyns
The vicarage built by George Blisset with the Church from the south-east.
The Revd George Blisset – a relation of Troth – was the first Vicar and during his seventeen years the new church made a tremendous impact within this community by its social and welfare work, by its educational work for all ages and by providing a spiritual focus for a previously marginalized people. So much so that within ten years the church had to be enlarged.
Since those days the parish has grown, both by new building and by the inclusion within it of East, West and, more recently, South Horrington – the development that has replaced the old Mendip Hospital. Although in nearly a century and a half the parish has changed in many ways, we believe St Thomas Church has remained true to its profoundly Christian early principles of concern for all its parishioners regardless of their church allegiance, and compassion for the needy regardless of where they live.
This view clearly shows how the original parish is clustered around St Thomas’, though now the parish boundaries extend up to three miles into the country.
Although by Wells standards St Thomas’ is a pretty recent arrival on the scene, many visitors comment on the intensely spiritual atmosphere of the building and it seems to us that it is a place which has been hallowed by the valid prayer and self-less service of those who have gone before us.
In these very different days we try to be worthy of our inheritance and faithful in shaping what we hand on to future generations.
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