History

The current St Thomas church on Chapel st. Leigh is the second incarnation of the church built on the site. It was built in 1902 by Messrs. J. Gerrard and Sons, of Swinton. constructed from Accrington red brick, and Runcorn red sandstone (used for doorways, windows, arches, piers and general stonework. It replaced the original church which was consecrated as early as 1840.

Why we were  photographing at st. Thomas church

We had heard through the grapevine that the churches future was under serious threat and may even be demolished if funds could not be found (in excess of £1 million) to carry out urgent maintenance. So we got the kind permission of the priest to access the church to take photos of the inside while it was still in reasonable disrepair and safe enough to do so.

St. Thomas church is something of a forgotten giant, sort of hidden away on chapel street , you can be past it before you notice it’s there. Hidden behind trees but as large as life when you get into the church yard. We had a great few hours snapping lots of photos, with a small sample displayed above. Had to use a wide angled lens for some of the shots as the church is so large you just can’t get it all in with a standard lens without having to go across Chapel street, and then you have the trees blocking your view of the building.

The church is not currently actively used for services as it needs a full rewire and is generally not safe to be used by the general public, such a shame. But we enjoyed our day out there, the sun even came out for us.