Heights Chapel, St Thomas Old Church is a Grade II* listed building in the Oldham local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 June 1967. Church. 2 related planning applications.

Heights Chapel, St Thomas Old Church

WRENN ID
muted-cloister-spindle
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Oldham
Constituency
Oldham East and Saddleworth MP: Debbie Abrahams (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
19 June 1967
Type
Church
Address
Heights Chapel, St Thomas Old Church, Broad Lane, Saddleworth, OL3 5TX
OS grid reference
SD 982 090
Coordinates
53.57816, -2.02847
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Heights Chapel, St. Thomas Old Church is a redundant church built in 1765, as indicated by the date on the west door lintels. It is constructed from hammer-dressed watershot stone and features a graduated stone slate roof. The building has a three-sided gallery plan, a small chancel, and a later vestry wing, arranged in four by two bays with quoins.

The west elevation has twin doors with architraves, dated lintels, and cornices, flanking a semi-circular-headed window with Y-tracery, impost capitals, and a keystone. Above this window is a continuous dripmould that is stepped. There are two similar windows on the first floor, both under a single hoodmould. The gable is coped and there is a 19th-century bell-cote. The side elevations feature similar windows arranged in two tiers, although most are blocked. The chancel has canted sides, a lean-to roof, and a Venetian window on the east. The vestry wing also has a similar Venetian window.

Inside, the chapel has galleries supported by Tuscan columns with 19th-century timber parapet walls. The tie-beam roof trusses, likely from the 19th century, include queen posts and arched struts, all of which are chamfered and decoratively painted. There is stencilled paintwork around the chancel, and wall plaques serve as memorials to the Buckley family.

Local climate

Heights Chapel, St Thomas Old Church sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,050 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 84% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 78% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 50 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 91% of listed buildings. Of these, 30 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • Sale history — 1 transaction since 2025
  • Related listed building consents — 2 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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