140th Anniversary of St Thomas’s Church

On April 1st 2015, this full-page article was published in the Bolton Evening News to commemorate the 140th Anniversary of St Thomas’s on Eskrick Street, Halliwell. It featured photographs of the football team from 1919 and of June Tollady, the first Rose Queen after the Second World War in 1948, as well as some of the history of the church.

St Thomas the Apostle is in Eskrick Street in Halliwell and has a long and illustrious history in this area. It was started when it became clear the population of Halliwell was not “adequately cared for spiritually”, explains a book dedicated to the history of the church.

There was, at this time, just one church serving the district and that was St Paul’s. The population was growing rapidly in Halliwell with the church of St Paul consecrated in 1848 and provided for 500 people.

There was a plan to extend St Paul’s so it could accommodate a further 300 worshipers and plans were put into place to build another church near town, and this was St Matthew which was consecrated in 1876.

Had the original plan to extend St Paul’s been carried out, it is doubtful whether the parish church of St Thomas would ever have been built.

The vicar of St Paul’s, Reverend Arthur Packer* (who gave his name to Packer Street in Halliwell) decided there was a need for another church and not simply and not simply the extension of his own.

Mr Packer was able to persuade Richard Horrocks Ainsworth (living at Smithills Hall) to postpone plans to extend the church and contribute the amount he would pay for that to build a new one.

Eventually the church was built in what was known then as Velvet Walks but later became Grove Street. The church cast £7,0000 (sic) to build and on July 17, 1875, the building was consecrated.

(*The Reverend Packer was also part of a deputation seeking to get a Second Policeman for Halliwell in 1868)

Rose Queen in 1948

These photographs are of the programme for the Crowning of the Rose Queen in 1948: