St. Thomas of Hereford, Weobley

Introduction

Saint Thomas of Hereford in Weobley dates from the mid-1830s and is attached to an early-19th-century presbytery. The church is thought to date from 1834 or 1835, making it the first post-Reformation Catholic Church in Herefordshire. The church was consecrated in 1834, thanks to the generosity of the Monnington family of Sarnesfield Court.

History

Around 1850 a schoolroom was built behind the church, now in use as the Sacristy. Since 1923 the church has been in the care of the Benedictine Order at Belmont Abbey. In the early-twenty-first century further alterations were carried out to the presbytery, creating a flat for the priest upstairs and converting more of the ground floor for parish use. A Building Survey was undertaken at Saint Thomas of Hereford RC Church, Weobley in September 2022.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has stone rubble walls with brick heads to windows and a slate roof. The church is rectangular, orientated with its shorter ends to the east and west, with a small porch to the west end. The church has a pitched roof with a coped parapet gable to the west end with a bellcote at its apex. The interior has a stair up to a gallery at the west end, altar at the east end and a Lady Chapel in the south-western corner.

Most of the furnishings such as the altar, pews and lectern are oak and date to the 1930s and are in the Arts and Crafts style. The altar and some statues are by the Hereford woodcarver and sculptor Charles Victor Gertner (1881-1957).

Parish life

The parish's bring-and-share lunches raise funds for the Hereford Homeless Charity. A Parish Advisory Council, elected by parishioners, aids the Parish Priest in running the parish. The parish's Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are recommissioned annually.

Sacraments and pastoral care

These ministers take Communion to parishioners prevented by sickness, old age, or other causes from attending Mass. Children are welcome to borrow toys, bible stories, prayer books, colouring pages and pencils during Mass.