Church Of St Thomas

The Church of St Thomas is a parish church located in Great Hanwood, primarily built in 1856 but incorporating some medieval, 17th century, and 18th century materials. It is constructed of red brick, mainly from the 19th century, with some 17th century brick in the nave and 18th century brick in the chancel. The church sits on a roughly coursed sandstone plinth, likely medieval, and features ashlar dressings and quoins, topped with a machine-tile roof and a dentilled eaves cornice.

The church has a nave with a polygonal chancel under the same roof, a belfry at the west end, a north porch, a south-east vestry, and a north-east organ chamber. The nave has five bays on the north side, with paired lancets and circular openings above in the third and fifth bays from the west, along with a blocked opening between them. There is a gabled porch in the second bay with another paired lancet to the west. The south side features three paired lancets, with the westernmost cutting into the infill of a blocked doorway. The west wall has a paired lancet and a circular window above with four pierced trefoils. The late 19th century belfry is tile-hung and has a pyramidal roof.

The polygonal chancel has 19th century Gothic windows, with the eastern window consisting of three lights. There is a shallow lean-to organ chamber from 1890 on the north side with a paired lancet, and a gabled vestry to the south.

Inside, the church has a mid-19th century appearance with a plain oak roof in five bays. The sanctuary features some re-used 17th century panelling, with the words "holy.holy.holy" painted on the back wall. The chancel and the south-east window of the nave contain mid-19th century stained glass by David and Charles Evans, while the other nave windows on the south side have late 19th century stained glass. The church also has mid-19th century box pews and a 12th century sandstone font with a moulded rim and scalloped underside, set on a late 19th century pedestal. There are several early to mid-19th century wall tablets and memorials to various local families located in both the nave and chancel.