Friarmere, St Thomas Church

Friarmere, St Thomas Church

St Thomas Church in Friarmere is a simple mid-18th-century church on a hillside overlooking Delph. The church was built beginning in 1765, probably using the labour of the parishioners, who dubbed it 'Heights Chapel'. It was intended as a chapel of ease for parishioners unable to travel to the parish church at Saddleworth.

St Thomas's is a very plain brick building under a slate roof, two storeys high, with a small stone bellcote at the west end. The layout is very simple, with a rectangular nave, small chancel and a vestry.

It is very much in the style of a Georgian 'preaching church', with galleries on the west, north, and south, and a small east sanctuary lit by an Italianate window. Memorials to the Buckley family line the walls. The chancel is decorated with stencilled paintings.

Entrance is through two doors at the west end. Over the doors are lintels carved with the date 1765. Between the entrance doors is a round-headed window.

When a new church was built in Delph most of the interior furnishings were transferred there, leaving St Thomas' fairly bare. This small Georgian church is no longer in regular use and is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.