History
We are a lively Church of England church in a vibrant area of South-West London serving Balham, Streatham Hill & Clapham Park.
St Thomas' Church
As the residential area of Telford Park became developed in the mid 19th century, a temporary iron church was erected in February 1885 at the junction of Telford and Thornton Avenues. The Church foundation stone, located on the external wall at the east (Salford Road) end of the building, was laid on May 11th 1901 by Sir Frank Green, Lord Mayor of London. The nave was opened five months later and the north and south aisles and baptistry were opened in April 1905. St Thomas' obtained the position of a legally established and independent church in July 1903. Reverend E J Wolfe was instituted as first vicar on 22 December 1903 and served until 1922.
The chancel was built after the war in 1927. The 107 men of the parish killed in The Great War are commemorated by a war memorial in the church. The Second World War brought damage to the roof of the church and east window, and the iron railings and gates were handed over for munitions production. In the half century or so after the Second World War, the damage was repaired and St Thomas' continued as a focus for Anglican worship, social fellowship and community activities, and became part of the Diocese of Southwark.
St Stephen's Church
The St Stephen’s building was built in 1974. It replaced a Victorian church which was demolished owing to substantial subsidence, as part of the redevelopment of the area and the construction of the surrounding housing estate during the 1970s. The building was a single storey combined church and community centre. In early 2023 the PCC voted to sell the St Stephen’s site.
St Thomas with St Stephen
The parish of St Thomas with St Stephen was formed in 2006 after the merger of the two neighbouring parishes. Both were of a similar evangelical tradition, but with different characters and styles of worship. Both buildings undertook redevelopment, St Thomas' to bring it up to 21st century standards of heat and lighting, and St Stephen's in partnership with The Weir Link to improve the building for community use.
Redevelopment in 2010s
St Thomas’ was substantially refurbished in the early 2010s to better serve our vision. After a brief period of closure in 2014, doors opened again for worship on September 6th and we held a service of celebration on September 27th 2015 with the Rt Revd. Christopher Chessun, the Bishop of Southwark for the formal re-opening.
Phase 1 of the re-development of St Thomas’ Church was completed in 2010 and involved underfloor heating, removal of the pews and replacing them with attractive wooden chairs, new lighting and a tea and coffee point made by reusing some of the reclaimed wood from the choir stalls.
Phase 2 started on 1st December 2014 and involved: a brick and glass screen in the chancel arch with decorative glass artwork, the construction of upper and lower halls in the chancel space with lift access, a new side chapel, a catering kitchen, more toilets, a full immersion baptistery and a fit-for-purpose new audio-visual system. The lower hall will have the potential to become a community cafe. The external areas will be fully landscaped providing a community garden, new pathways, garden areas, a memorial garden, lighting and cycle storage .
Decorative glass artwork
We worked with Sarah Galloway, one of the UK’s leading architectural glass artists, to design a decorative glass artwork for the divide between main church area and upper and lower halls.. She creates contemporary artwork which draws on the uniqueness of the local context. There were extensive consultations within both church and community as well as hands on practical workshops to develop the glass artwork that has taken pride of place in St Thomas' chancel arch.
Opened again for worship in 2015
Doors opened again for worship on September 6th and we held a service of celebration on September 27th 2015 with the Rt Revd. Christopher Chessun, the Bishop of Southwark for the formal re-openng.
