Description

679/4/108 CLAREMOUNT ROAD
23-NOV-73 Church of St Thomas

(Formerly listed as:
ST THOMAS STREET
Church of St Thomas Charlestown)

II
Parish church of 1857-61 by Mallinson & Healey.

MATERIALS: Coursed sandstone with graded-slate roof.

PLAN: Asymmetrical plan of aisled nave with north porch, transepts, lower chancel and south chancel tower.

EXTERIOR: Decorated-style church. The west front comprises a 4-light nave window and 2-light aisle windows. The nave has a clerestorey of four lozenge-shaped windows with curved sides and quatrefoil tracery. Aisle windows are 3-light with segmental-pointed heads. The north porch doorway has a continuous moulding and a hood mould wrapped around the angles where the buttresses have gable caps. Transepts have diagonal buttresses and 3-light windows. In the south transept is a pointed doorway. The chancel has a 5-light east window, two 2-light north windows and one 2-light south window. The 3-stage tower has angle buttresses in the lower stage, south-east turret with blocked shoulder-headed doorway, and embattled parapet. In the lower stage is a pointed east doorway and pair of cusped lancets in the south face. The second stage has narrow east and south cusped lancets. Two-light bell openings are boarded up in the north and south faces, and blocked in the east and west faces.

INTERIOR: The first two bays of the nave and three bays of the aisles have been partitioned off for meeting and service rooms. The original arcades remain visible, and have octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. Arches to the transepts are similar, as is the chancel arch, which has polygonal responds. The nave roof is concealed behind a suspended ceiling. Transepts and chancel have roofs of closely spaced rafters. Walls are plastered. The chancel has a stone-paved floor, the nave a concrete floor, raised in front of the chancel arch where an altar has been set up.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The octagonal font with panelled stem is c1915. Pews survive in the central part of the nave and aisles, and have shaped ends with arm rests, and fielded-panel backs. Choir stalls are similar, with panelled frontals. The chancel has a panelled dado, and portable 3-sided reredos of octagonal posts, surmounted by angels in the corners, which is integral with the wooden altar, which has inlaid figures of angels to the frontal. There is a 1914-18 war-memorial rood beam. Several windows have stained glass, including the Good Samaritan in the east window, Elijah and the chariot of fire in the north transept by Kayll & Co of Leeds (1899), and doubting Thomas in the north transept east window by Ward & Hughes (1888).

HISTORY: Built 1857-61 by the partnership of James Mallinson (1819-84) and Thomas Healey (1839-1910), architects of Bradford. The west gallery was removed during restoration in 1911-12 by Jackson & Fox, architects of Halifax. The interior was significantly re-ordered in the late C20 when the west end of nave and aisles were partitioned off from the main body of the church, and pews were removed from the transepts.

SOURCES:
Incorporated Church Building Society Archives
Information from incumbent

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The Church of St Thomas, Claremount Road, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* The church is a modest Gothic-Revival building, with characteristic asymmetrical plan and retaining C19 external character and detail
* The church retains its internal structural integrity despite significant but reversible interior alteration
* The church is a major landmark on the north side of the town and, with other C19 suburban churches, documents the growth of industrial Halifax in the C19 and is a good example of how churches were carefully sited to occupy commanding positions in the townscape

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 16 August 2017.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26545721

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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