PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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The Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas More is located in Bampfylde Way, Southway, Plymouth. The housing estate known as Southway only came into being after the Second World War. As the houses and factories developed, Father McSweeney began using a farmhouse on the estate as a place of worship for the growing population. When the new primary school was opened, the congregation transferred there. In January 1963 a site for a church was purchased off Plymouth Corporation and construction began on May 27th 1963. The foundation stone was laid by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Plymouth, the Right Reverend Cyril Restieaux, on July 24th 1963. Eight months later the building was blessed and the first Mass was held on March 20th 1964. The Bishop formally opened the Church on the evening of Tuesday May 26th 1964. Mr C P Saunders of Messrs Evans & Powell, of Torquay, designed this modern, rectangular, building of light brown brickwork with white stone facings. Unusually, it has a roof that slopes in one direction only, with windows high in the south-facing wall providing plenty of light to the interior. The contractor was Mr George Lloyd, of Newton Abbot and Plymouth, and the Church cost nearly £12,000 to build. Furnishings cost a further £2,500 and it was entirely financed by the parishioners. The Portland stone high altar is surmounted by a large crucifix hand-carved in wood at Oberammergau in the Bavarian region of Germany, as were other statues in the Church. On the south side of the building is the Lady Chapel, which is separated from the main Church by a glass screen. Above the simple wooden altar in the Chapel is a painting of the crucifixion, with Our Lady and St John at the foot of the Cross. It was donated by Mr Peter Biegel, of Gillingham, in Dorset. A reproduction of the Holbein painting of Saint Thomas More, to whom the Church is dedicated, hangs on a pillar between the sanctuary and the side chapel.
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