St. Thomas Cathedral Church

September 20, 2021

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St. Thomas Cathedral Church is one of the oldest church of Mumbai. ln 1676, the first foundation stone was installed and it was finally consecrated in 1718 as the first Anglican church in Mumbai. It was located within the fort walls built around the town that time. The church was named in honour of Saint Thomas the Apostle. It is located near Fort area, Hornimon circle. (The above picture during 1908 source: Twitter.com)

Sir John Oxinden, the first Governor of Bombay gave the idea of constructing this church. Later Gerald Aungier further pursued the idea and collected funds of Rs 50,000 through contributions from the servants of East India Company for construction of the church. The church work came to halt due to the death of Aungier, for next 30 years. The work resumed in 1715 and finally the church was inaugurated on Christmas day in 1718. Then it has served continuously as an Anglican place of worship. In 1838 the Church was named as St. Thomas Cathedral being the Seat of Bishop of Bombay.

The name “Churchgate Station”
The church was located within the fort walls. The fort had three gates. One gate on the western side was called Church Gate due to St Thomas Church. All the three gates along with fort was demolished in 1860s. The railway station was built in 1870 and it was named Churchgate Station. The street leading to the Church was originally called Churchgate Street and was later renamed and is now known as Veer Nariman Road.

Till today the church stands with it’s new look. The architecture of the building has undergone numerous transformations overtime with multiple additions and alterations that respected the integrity of the previous designs.