Heritage

Top Church (St. Thomas and St. Luke’s Church) has been situated at its current site at the top of the hill for almost 850 years.

1170

The church was originally constructed between 1175 and 1182 on the orders of the Baron of Dudley, Gervase De Paganel. The building was designed specifically to be a chapel to Thomas a’Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury assassinated in December 1170, allegedly on the orders of King Henry II. The dedication of the church to such an enemy of the King was an act of significant defiance. The church was rededicated to St Thomas the Apostle in 1540 on the orders of Henry VIII who disapproved of the symbolic defiance to the crown.

1815

In 1815, led by Rev. Dr Luke Booker, the Vicar of Dudley, the original church building was demolished despite strong opposition. Construction of the new building concluded in 1818 and it is this new building that stands to this day.

1972

In 1972, the nearby St Luke’s Church was unfortunately closed. On the basis that "two saints are better than one", the decision was made to re-dedicate St Thomas Church as St Thomas & St Luke’s Church. However, the local population of Dudley have for many decades always affectionately referred to the church as "Top Church", the church at the top of the hill, exactly as Gervase De Paganell intended all those centuries ago.

2022

Fast forward to today, and we are working to conserve our precious building so that it can be enjoyed by many generations to come. Having secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to undertake a number of assessments, we have established the condition of the building and how best to conserve it.

Thanks to further funding from the NLHF we are currently carrying out this much needed conservation work to the high level masonry, window traceries, and also our painted East Window - the last surviving work by Joseph Backler. We are also commencing an 18 month programme of activities aimed at sharing the story of Top Church with the wider community.

We are pleased to bring you this interactive map of the Top Church graveyard. We are often contacted by people trying to track down their late ancestors, which can be particularly difficult from a distance, so we hope this helps!

Would you like to learn more about the external repair works? In this video architect Matt Vaughan talks us through what is being done to manage existing damage and protect the church from further deterioration. Tell us what you think of the video here!

FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH

Please note, we do not hold any historical records in the church. All our Parish records of births, deaths and marriages can be searched at Dudley Archives and Local History Centre.