YorkshireTHORNHILLStMichaelAllAngels(timgreenCC-BY-2.0)1 TimGreen

St Michael & All Angels

An award winning Grade I church in the heart of the Thornhill Conservation Area which is said to have the best stained glass in Yorkshire outside of York Minster.

Thornhill, Yorkshire

Opening times

Wednesday 10.30am to 2pm, and more in summer.

Address

Church Lane
Thornhill
Yorkshire
WF12 0JZ

Welcome, you are in good company as there has been Christian worship on this site since Anglo Saxon times.

Mentioned in the Domesday Book, this building is grade one listed and is included in Simon Jenkins' book 'England’s Thousand Best Churches'.

The church is first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, but the fragments of Anglo Saxon memorials including crosses and a grave slab indicate that there has been a church here since at least the 9th century. Fragments of stones carved in the Norman and Early English styles mark rebuilding or extensions in the 12th and 13th centuries, the oldest surviving parts of the church are the 15th century tower, chancel and chancel chapels. Inscriptions on the stained glass windows give  precise dates for the chancel and the chapels. The Savile Chapel on the north was first built in 1447 and extended eastwards in 1493. The south chapel was built in 1491 and the chancel was remodelled, clerestoried and arched by 1499.

The nave of the church, probably an Anglo Saxon or Norman structure modified and enlarged in the 13th century, was pulled down in the 18th century. In 1777 the medieval nave was rebuilt as a 'preaching box', in a mixed gothic and Classical style. The dedication slab of the 1777 nave survives, as does a photograph of the nave. The Victorians condemned the 1777 nave as Churchwarden's Gothic and in poor style. It was rebuilt (with aisles again) in 1877-9 by the architect GE Street.

The style of the architecture which he used was the 14th century Decorated style; this was chosen because it was the one style not represented in the building or among the fragments of architectural stonework. Street, also added the present south porch and vestry, the latter projecting beyond the cast end of the church. The 20th century added a fine organ in the north aisle with a detached console.  

  • Wildlife haven

  • Spectacular stained glass

  • National heritage here

  • Magnificent memorials

  • Fascinating churchyard

  • Famous connections

  • Captivating architecture

  • Wifi

  • Level access throughout

  • Car park at church

  • Café in church

  • Bus stop within 100m

  • Accessible toilets in church

  • Concerts happen frequently.

  • Church of England

  • Repair Grant, £10,000, 2010

  • Our Repair Grants funded urgent repair work to help keep churches open.

Contact information

Other nearby churches

Longcauseway Church

Dewsbury, Yorkshire

Longcauseway Church is a prominent and well known building situated in the town centre of Dewsbury.

Dewsbury Minster

Dewsbury, Yorkshire

Dewsbury Minster is a grade II listed building and has been a place of worship in the area since 627AD when St Paulinus preached at the crossing point of the River Calder at Dewsbury.