St Thomas' Church, Ashton-in-Makerfield

St Thomas' Church, Ashton-in-Makerfield
St Thomas' Church, Ashton-in-Makerfield, from the south
St Thomas' Church, Ashton-in-Makerfield Location in Greater Manchester
Coordinates: 53°29′09″N 2°38′20″W / 53.4857°N 2.6389°W / 53.4857; -2.6389
OS grid reference	SJ 577,990
Location	Warrington Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Thomas, Ashton-in-Makerfield
History
Consecrated	6 July 1893
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	7 December 1966
Architect(s)	F. H. Oldham, Henry Paley
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1891
Completed	1930
Specifications
Materials	Stone
Administration
Parish	St Thomas, Ashton-in-Makerfield
Deanery	Wigan
Archdeaconry	Warrington
Diocese	Liverpool
Province	York
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd Jeremy Thomas
Laity
Reader(s)	Malcolm Bold, Scott Campbell, Kevin Dolan, Tim Griffiths, David Hamlett, Tricia Hancox, Alan Harrison, John Holden, Carol Pye, Izzy Shafer
Organist(s)	Paul Tushingham
Churchwarden(s)	Jim Miller, Alison Foster
Parish administrator	Mrs R. Campbell

St Thomas' Church is in Warrington Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Wigan, the archdeaconry of Warrington, and the diocese of Liverpool. Its benefice is united with that of St Luke, Stubshaw Cross. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

A chapel of ease to St Oswald, Winwick is recorded on the site in 1515; this chapel was rebuilt in 1714. The new chapel, which had a cruciform plan, was consecrated in 1746. It was enlarged in 1782, and again in 1815. This chapel was in Georgian style. The present church was built in 1891–93, and was designed by F. H. Oldham of Manchester, providing seating for about 500 people. The church was consecrated on 6 July 1893 by the Rt Revd J. C. Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool. In 1929–30 the Lancaster architect Henry Paley of Austin and Paley added a new vestry at a cost of £506 (equivalent to £58,000). The tower originally had a saddleback roof, but this was removed in the 1960s.

The church is constructed in stone with a concrete tile roof. Its plan consists of three-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a chancel with a north organ chamber, vestries to the south and east, and a west tower. The tower has entrances on the north and south sides, and a four-light west window containing Perpendicular tracery. At the northwest corner is a stair turret. The bell openings are louvred, and paired on the east and west sides; there are clock faces on three sides. The parapet is embattled, with a gargoyle on the east side. Along the sides of the south aisle are pairs of three-light windows, and along the north side the windows have one or two lights. The clerestory windows mainly have three lights. The south vestry has three-light windows, the east window of the chancel has seven lights, and its north window has three lights. The east vestry window is straight-headed with three lights. The organ chamber has a three-light window and a rose window.