Church of St Thomas | History Brambles Farm

Chapter 1: The History of the Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Brambles Farm, Middlesbrough

A plan of the Brambles Farm housing estate circa 1932 shows a detailed layout of the partially built estate. One acre has been “allocated church site” for the soon to be built St Thomas's church. One resident remembered when his father used to keep pigs, hens and rabbits in the garden near to where the church now stands (a).

The plans for a church for Brambles Farm date back to 27.1.1930 when the Reverend E.S.G. Wickham of North Ormesby parish, approached the Middlesbrough Urban District Council to ask for a church site to be set aside on the new housing estate.

The impetus behind the Reverend’s plans were because the parish of North Ormesby, of which Brambles Farm would be a part had already swelled to 5000 people. This was making it “well-nigh impossible to maintain a regular system of visiting” (1). To meet the demands of the increasing population two daughter churches would be needed. One would be Saint Phillip’s of Cargo Fleet and the other would be Saint Thomas the Apostle at Brambles Farm. The site first offered to the Reverend Wickham at Brambles Farm was considered by him to be to cut off from the main road.

The Reverend S. F. Linsley, Curate and later Vicar of North Ormesby parish, appealed for funds to pay for the building of the new church on the empty site. The Archbishop of York initiated the appeal by making 3000 pounds immediately available. On the 28th of May 1934 the first stone was laid and the building of the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle had begun.

The new church was quickly completed and on Saint Thomas Day, 21st of December, 1934, the Archbishop of York dedicated the church. The register of services for that day records the following: “Dedication of the Church of Saint Thomas, Brambles Farm by His Grace the Archbishop of York on St. Thomas day, December the 21st. 1934 [Signed] William of Ebor, Rural Dean. [Other signers] were R.F King, (Curate), J.E. Picken, (Curate in charge) and S. F. Linsley, (Vicar).

The following day the Archbishop held Holy Communion with 63 communicants and later, Children's Services, Even Song and Sunday School were all held.

The new church began as a building with roof and walls but with little interior decoration except for the font. It was up to the parishioners to decorate the church and find furniture. The church itself could be partitioned by a thick blue curtain. Chairs were in use allowing seating for 450 in the church, the pews came much later. The church hall was completed in 1935 and seated 200. The hall was first open to the church and separated from it by a movable partition but was later bricked in. Sunday School pupils filled the church and outnumbered those attending the parent Church of Holy Trinity in North Ormesby. There were 15 teachers for the 450 scholars.

Around the church the new estate was open plan with no fences. The churchwarden tried fencing off an area around the church with a wire fence. The fence cut across an old path called the Sailors Trod which the locals considered an infringement of their rights of way and persistently cut through the fence. Eventually a more stable wooden fence was erected but this disappeared one bonfire night and no more fences were tried. The fields near the church where a traditional place for bonfires for a number of years.

Church matters for the late 30s and part of the war years were taken care of by the North Ormesby, parish curates: R. F. King, H. Phoenix, J. H. Molyneux, J.E. Picken, D.H.C. Rudd, H. Bacon, J. Bromley, W. Wallace and R. Haw.

From 1942, G. S. Skipsy was priest in charge. He guided the church through the later war years and the various problems during these years of shortage. These included events mentioned in the parish registers such as no heating in the church from 9.2.44 to 21.5.44. Seven days after the heating was repaired the organ broke down. The solid oak altar rails were dedicated on the 7th of this eventful month. These were originally situated close to the altar before being moved to the side chapels. The lectern was obtained at the same time, both carry the famous mouse motif of the Thompson's of Kilburn.

Mr Skipsey was married with a daughter named Ruth. He used to be seen riding around the estate on his bike. Unfortunately, he died in 1946 after three years in charge. George Sherwood Skipsey was remembered at a memorial service at St Thomas's church on 30.7.47. He is remembered today through the sanctuary lamp which formerly used to hang from the centre of the church and is now positioned to one side of the altar. His wife moved to Wensleydale and was a school mistress there, she recently died at Marton. G.A. Shennon-Dare took over for a while before the first church consecrated vicar took over in November 1947.

Father Edward Herdson was a Mirfield trained priest in his early 30s. He came from British Guyana where he had met his wife (In the 1970s Father Mitchell met Mrs Hudson's parents in Guyana). Lodgings for the new vicar were a problem at first. There was no clergy house in those days. Mr Skipsey had lived at 5 Merlin Road, which had been provided by the council as a church residence but this had now been sold. The Herdson's therefore lived with a local parishioner until the council provided another house at 51 Merlin Road.

Father Herdson was high church and introduced the church gong and confession. The church had a lady helper, Roma Kyle, who come from All Saints church. Miss Kyle now married, lives in Redcar. Father Herdson had a son Peter, who was born in Brambles Farm, he later had another child after he had moved from the parish to the York area.

Trips were popular among the parishioners. People would walk or take a bus to Cargo Fleet railway station, then go by train or take a bus to Osmotherly, York or the seaside. Large groups would go on these visits. On one trip to Holy Island, Father Herdson who had a limp and wore a leg calliper was carried over the seashore to the island by some stout parish men. There was no road to the island just sand and rock. Trips in those days were quite an adventure.

Father Mainwaring-Taylor was the next parish priest. He came from Scarborough and was a Kelham trained priest, married with children. Miss Braithwaite and Miss Simmons were his lady helpers. Stanley Nichols and Jim Thom were curates. The lady workers carried out parish duties including visiting parishioners and doing jobs in and around the church.

Carnivals were very popular at this time. May Queens which today have been replaced by celebrations of Our Lady paraded around the church and streets. Plays were also held inside the church. Father Mainwaring-Taylor would play the part of the priest in these productions.

The church of Saint Peter’s was built in 1956. The first earth was turned over on 29.6.1956 by the Archdeacon of Cleveland the Reverend W. Palin when the foundation stone was laid. The church was quickly built and was dedicated by the Archbishop of York, Doctor Michael Ramsey on the 29.3. 1957. The Archbishop said the church “was another landmark in the superb endeavour that was being made in the town to be looked to provide for the worship of God and the care of souls in the vast districts” (2). Most of the 17,000 pounds cost of the church was met by war damage payments from the destruction of Saint Peter’s church in Faversham Street, Middlesbrough, which was destroyed by bombing in 1940.

Before the dedication 30 clergymen had walked in procession to the brilliantly lit chancel with its pastel covered walls. Here they knocked three times with the pastoral staff of Durham. The clergy and choir sang the Te Deum. Along with the Archbishop and Reverend Mainwaring-Taylor other dignitaries present were the Bishop Designative of Hull and former vicar of Linthorpe, G.F. Townley and the Rural Dean of Middlesbrough, Canon Harrison-Park. Many of the furnishings of the new church came from St Hilda's church in Middlesbrough. The new church could be converted into use as a hall by drawing a petition curtain across the altar area.

Father Woodward took over the parish in 1959 and remained vicar until 1965. He had the help of Father Vasey. Father Woodward later became vicar of Nunthorpe and later still moved to Scarborough and is now at Hull. Other priests including those from Saint Oswald's, St. Barnabas and Nunthorpe helped until Kelham trained Father McLaren came in 1968. Father Denton then arrived and Sister Henry from the Church Army helped in the church during this changeable period.

On the 14th of October 1973, Father A.H. Yates arrived from Sheffield. He was a member of the Company of Mission Priests.

It was Father Yates who collected some of the church statues, others are in memory of parishioners loved ones. The statues include those of Our Lady of Walsingham in memory of Father Herdson, which was later damaged by fire and was replaced by a statue in memory of his mother; Sacred Heart in memory of the parents of Edith Dickens and family; Saint Joseph the Annunciation; Saint Thomas dedicated to May and Jack Thackeray; St V. De Paul dedicated to the memory of Mr Harry Vauxhall; the Saint Thomas icon given by Father Stretton and Our Lady brought by Father Yates from Spain. Father Yates found the church’s stations of the cross and the figure on the rood screen in a nunnery cellar and also the figure on the rood screen.

In 1975 it was decided that only one church was financially viable within the parish. Saint Peter's church was thriving and newer than St Thomas's with land to build an improve on. The final decision however was to keep St Thomas's and Saint Peter’s was demolished.

Saint Thomas's at this time was need of repair, rain was coming in through the roof and this was repaired. The South door had once been the main access door but was now bricked in. Its small porch had always made it inconvenient for funerals and a new door and porch were built in the west wall. The door out of the sanctuary was bricked in for better security, as was the boiler door, access to which is now from the steps in the vespers.

The church’s wooden, original floors were sanded and polished. Globe lights were replaced with the present lighting and four windows in the east wall were bricked in. The chairs were replaced with the present-day pews which were originally in the former Seamen’s Mission in Oxford Street in Middlesbrough before they moved to the Wilton Mission and then to Saint Thomas's. Some of the candlesticks in the church comes from the Holy Rood Sisters in Marton Road. During his stay at the church Father Yates had help from curates: Stretton, Jacobson and Percy.

Father Percy arrived in the parish in 1977. He had been ordained in 1972 and spent his first four years in the priesthood at Saint Ignatius in Sunderland with Father Stretton. These two founded the Company of Mission Priests in the Manchester parish of Our Lady of Mercy and Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Father Stretton left Brambles Farm in 1977 and was replaced by Father Percy. Father Mitchell came to Saint Thomas's to be a Company Mission Priest. He left St Thomas's to be a Franciscan monk. He is now in Redruth Cornwall.

Father Yates left the parish in 1980 to go to a parish in Stoke on Trent. Father Norman Jacobson had been a curate at the church and came back as vicar on 3.7.82. He left in 1983 and is now working in the Hull area. An American priest Father Waywell took over for a brief period before returning to America.

For most of 1984 the church was interregnum. Father Noblitt took over in 1985 for two years. Father Noblitt came from R.A.F Linton on Ouse where he was a chaplain. Popular groups during this period were the Mothers Union, Walsingham Cell, Sunday School and Youth Group. Father Noblitt left St Thomas's to go to Wakefield Prison as chaplain. He is now chaplain at Norwich prison.

Canon Wells took over at Saint Thomas's church on the 7.9.87. He is Australian by birth and was ordained Deacon on Corpus Christi Day, 1952 in Brisbane. He was ordained as a priest on December 21st (St Thomas day), 1953 in St John the Evangelist Cathedral, Brisbane. The Canon has travelled the world preaching in Belize, Bahamas, Windward Isles and Whitby! In 1977 he was made Canon Residentiary of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist, Belize City. He has carried other titles such as Vicar General of Belize Diocese, Rural Dean of San Ignacio and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop. In 1980 Cannon Wells returned to England to take up the post of Assistant Chaplain at H. M. Prison Liverpool. He moved in 1982 to be chaplain at HM's Prison Thorp Arch and Rudgate in West Yorkshire before coming to Saint Thomas's. The altar contains relics brought by Canon wells from the Greek islands in memory of his mother.

Father Ian provided help for one year as the Church Deacon. He was then ordained. Father Ian is now to have his own church at Saint Timothy's, Hemlington. It was he with the help of parishioners who started the church bingo nights which have proved extremely popular. Recently pilgrims from Saint Thomas's have travelled to Walsingham, Lourdes, Rome and to Fatima where they were filmed and appeared on Christmas Day television.

The council have recently erected railings around the church. Currently the church is involved in pie suppers, garden fetes, autumn fairs, barn dancing, Society of Vincent De Paul, visiting the elderly and providing dinners for O.A.P.s.

Since putting together this history in the early 90s the church was closed and demolished in 2007, the congregation meeting for the last time in October 2006. Last word to a pastoral worker who stated: “the church would live on despite the demolition because the church is really the people.” https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/sad-day-for-our-church-3743956

Sadly this is all that now remains of the church site in 2023

Kelvin Street Middlesbrough