St Thomas and St Edmunds Church History - St Edmund

St Edmund’s church closed as a place of worship in 1974, and by the end of the 1970s it had become the Salisbury Arts Centre. The Parish of St Edmund was joined to St Thomas’s parish and the vicar of St Thomas became the Rector of the new Benefice.

The history of St Edmund’s church is woven into the history of Salisbury. From its earliest years, Salisbury was planned to be a university city with two colleges – the College of De Vaux in the liberty of the Cathedral and the College of St Edmund of Abingdon on the northern side of the new city.

Bishop Walter de la Wyle founded this college in 1269 for a provost and thirteen priests whose duties included the service of a parish and so the collegiate church of St Edmund was founded. Of this building nothing remains, and what we see today is a later 15th century chancel which in turn became the nave, with a Victorian extension to form a new chancel.

In 1653 the central tower collapsed, demolishing the 13th century nave and unusually for the time of the Commonwealth, a new tower was built with a new west wall and the building became much as we see it today. During the time of the Civil War, St Edmund’s was more disposed to the cause of the Parliamentarians and perhaps this aided the rebuilding of the new tower after its collapse in 1653. St Thomas was more sympathetic to the Royalist cause and did not fare well during that period of history.

Like many churches in England during the 17th and 18th centuries, St Edmund’s church gradually fell into a poor state of repair. In the 19th century it was extensively restored and it was at this time that most of the stained glass windows that we see today were installed. The organ from the church after its closure was installed in Amesbury Parish church.

The nave altar used today in St Thomas’s church came from St Edmund’s and is believed to be 17th century in origin.