St Thomas Church Bury

A tall, confident Victorian church built to serve the mill housing of Pimhole, and still a landmark on Rochdale Road.

A mill owner's gift

St Thomas was built between 1864 and 1866 at a cost of about £8,000, given by Thomas Openshaw of Primrose Hill, a local mill owner. The site — more than 8,000 square yards, bounded by Rochdale Road to the north and Pimhole Lane to the west — was the gift of the Earl of Derby.

It was consecrated on 10 December 1866 by James Prince Lee, the first Bishop of Manchester. It was the hundredth church he had consecrated.

The building

The architect was Lawrence Booth, of Blackwell, Son and Booth, who also designed Christ Church, Walshaw. The style is Early English, and the tower and spire were built to a height of 120 feet. The walls are of Horncliffe stone with Fletcher Bank or Birtle stone for the window dressings and quoins; inside, the nave columns are of red Mansfield stone, the chancel shafts of Cornish serpentine, and the floors laid with Minton's encaustic tiles under an open timber roof. The church is 108 feet 6 inches long internally and 58 feet wide, and originally seated about 650 — since reduced to 400. It was listed Grade II in 1985.

Sources: Architects of Greater Manchester.