St Thomas' Church was built between 1886 and 1888. The foundation stone was laid on 28th October 1886. The architect, Ewan Christian, also restored Ingham and Runham churches and the chancel of Acle church. The church was built by Mr G. E. Hawes at a total cost of £6,600. It was consecrated on 28th June 1888.
Norwich was expanding beyond its medieval walls, spreading westwards into the parish of Heigham, which had once been a separate hamlet. St. Thomas' was one of several new churches built in the area, others including St. Philip's (on Heigham Road, now demolished), St. Barnabas on Russell Street and Holy Trinity, to the south of Unthank Road.
Norwich suffered a number of air raids in the Second World War.
In one raid in the early hours of 27th June 1942 about 20,000 incendiary bombs and 33 high explosive bombs were dropped on the city. That night the cathedral was hit but the incendiaries were put out before they had done more than melt the lead on parts of the roof. The major store run by R.H. Bond and Sons Ltd on All Saints Green (rebuilt after the war and now John Lewis) was completely burnt out.
Several churches were destroyed that night. St. Michael-at-Thorn on Ber Street and St. Paul's Church off Magdalen Street were gutted by fire and St. Julian's Church on King Street was demolished (and was rebuilt after the war). Numerous houses were also destroyed that night. The original Heigham parish church, St. Bartholomew, had been bombed earlier that year, on 27th April 1942.
St. Thomas' Church was gutted by fire and had to be restored extensively after the war.
St. Thomas' Church reopened in 1952, after being rebuilt by W. S. Lusher & Sons Ltd, to the design of Wright & Mason of Norwich.
It was rebuilt within its old walls and today has one of the most beautiful church interiors in Norwich. It has a light-coloured hardwood floor, a plastered roof and spacious aisle arches, as well as some lovely modern stained glass. The most well-known stained glass window features Juliana of Norwich, complete with cat and the motto "All shall be well".
The cache is a small screw top container with a log book in but no pen, so bring a pen/pencil and replace as found. Oh and watch out for muggles!
If anybody would like to expand this series please do, I would just ask that you could let sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.
There is now a Church Micro statistics page which can be viewed via the bookmark list