Church of St Thomas is a Grade II listed building in the Sefton local planning authority area, England. First listed on 11 October 1968. Church.

Church of St Thomas

WRENN ID
nether-lantern-wax
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Sefton
Constituency
Sefton Central MP: Bill Esterson (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
11 October 1968
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Thomas, Church Lane, Lydiate
OS grid reference
SD 363 057
Coordinates
53.54433, -2.96238
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Thomas is a Grade II listed building located on Lydiate Church Lane. It was constructed between 1839 and 1841, with the chancel added in 1913, likely by S. Holmes and Sons. The church is built of stone with a slate roof, featuring dressed stone in the eastern part, accented with ashlar bands and dressings.

The structure includes a nave, a west tower, a chancel, a north vestry, an organ loft, and a south chapel. The four-bay nave has a sill course designed as a dripmould and coped gables. It is adorned with lancet windows that have chamfered reveals and hood moulds, with leaded glazing, some of which includes stained glass. The west tower features pointed entrances on the west and south sides, both with hood moulds, and a north lancet window. Above, there are blind crosses, and the top stage has a sill course, cornice, weathered parapet, and pinnacles. The lancets on the tower include a central stone panel with a quatrefoil, leaded glazing below, and louvres above; the south side also has a clock face above the stone panel.

The chancel is supported by gabled angle buttresses and has a three-light east window with early Perpendicular tracery, along with a similar two-light south window and two two-light clerestory windows above the chapel, which also features two two-light windows and a similar east window. The north vestry includes north and east windows with three elliptical-headed lights, while the organ loft has a two-light north window. There are large gabled buttresses and fragmentary walls suggesting plans for rebuilding at the southeast angle of the nave and to the west of the organ loft.

Inside, there is a deep west gallery supported by two octagonal iron columns and an open-well stair in the tower. The nave has a flat ceiling with tie beams, while the chancel features a waggon roof. The chancel arch rests on octagonal piers, with flanking segmental arches. There are springers for projected nave arcades and rubble with projecting stones above. A two-bay segmental-headed arcade leads to the chapel, with arches that die into piers and responds, and a similar pointed arch leads to the organ loft. The chancel includes a recess for sedilia and a high reredos with alabaster relief panels.

Local climate

Church of St Thomas sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,190 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 91% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 91% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 16 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 84% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 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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  2. Church View Cottage Grade II 60 m
  3. Church of Our Lady Grade II 546 m
  4. Remains of Lydiate Hall Grade II 614 m
  5. St Katherines Chapel (Lydiate Abbey) Grade II* 841 m
  6. The Scotch Piper Public House Grade II* 894 m
  7. Lydiate Hill Bridge Grade II 1.2 km
  8. Owens Farmhouse Grade II 1.2 km
  9. Meadow View Farmhouse Grade II 1.5 km
  10. Downholland Hall Grade II 1.5 km