“Did you know that Saint Thomas’s Church has a secret?” I ask. It stands here in Southwark a testament to centuries of history. Saint Thomas’s Church began as part of St. Thomas’ Hospital. The hospital was originally located near present-day St Thomas Street. It emerged from the infirmary at St Mary Overie Priory in 1212.
The hospital, like the church, had Augustinian roots. By 1496 the hospital and conventual precinct had become a parish. Saint Thomas’s was named after Thomas Becket. Pilgrimages to his Canterbury shrine started at London Bridge. After the abolition of the Becket cult in 1538, the church was renamed St Thomas the Apostle.
The current Saint Thomas’s Church building dates back to 1703. The Hospital Governors commissioned Thomas Cartwright to design it. In 1821 a garret was added. This garret became the Herb Garret. The Old Operating Theatre was built there in the same year.
Imagine surgeons performing operations by candlelight. Before anesthesia, patients endured unimaginable pain. Medical students observed from the galleries above. Saint Thomas’s Church holds a hidden piece of medical history.
By 1899, its use as a church was redundant. The parish merged with St Saviour’s. St Saviour’s became Southwark Cathedral in 1905. Saint Thomas’ then served as the Chapter House for the cathedral. The small civil parish of Southwark St Thomas merged. It joined Southwark St Olave and St Thomas in 1896. This later merged into Bermondsey parish in 1904.
In the late 20th century, the Chapter Group used it as office space. The Jubilee Line Extension works undermined the building. Repairs began in 2010. It then became the HQ of the Cathedral Group property development company.
Raymond Russell uncovered a reference to the operating theatre in 1956. It had lay undiscovered for nearly 100 years. He rediscovered the Operating Theatre in the church attic.
Today Saint Thomas’s Church houses the oldest surviving operating theatre in England. The operating theatre and Herb Garret now serve as a museum. This showcases its historical features. The museum preserves this unique part of London’s heritage. Saint Thomas’s Church stands as a reminder of our medical past.