page_title: Church of St Thomas, Thurstonland
section_title: Tower
hierarchical_section_title: Church of St Thomas, Thurstonland / Structure / Interior / Tower
caption_attribution_description: English: A view through the belfry ceiling and up the inside of the spire of St Thomas' parish church, Thurstonland, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The spire is freestanding, having no interior support. Its interior is lit by daylight from three sets of four lucarnes.
context_page_description: The Church of St Thomas, Thurstonland, West Yorkshire, England, is an Anglican church. It is an Arts and Crafts building in Gothic Revival style, designed by James Mallinson and William Swinden Barber, and completed in 1870. The building was funded by William Legge, 5th Earl of Dartmouth, and it was consecrated by Robert Bickersteth, Bishop of Ripon. The total height of the tower and spire is 109 feet, and the nave contains an arch-braced hammerbeam roof.
  The first incumbent of the parish to use this building was Rev. Robert Boyle Thompson, an evangelical missionary who had already done "great work" in the slums of Seven Dials when he was granted the living of Thurstonland at the age of 28 years.
context_section_description: The tower has four floors, of which the ground floor doubles as the church's porch. The first floor is the children's gallery; this has a stepped floor to accommodate the pews, leaving a large, wedge-shaped cavity between the ground floor ceiling and the surface for the seating. The children's gallery is well-lit by large windows, and is open to the nave, forming a balcony overlooking the pulpit. The opening to the nave was closed off around 1984 with a screen and door. The gallery is accessed separately from the nave via the tower's staircase, allowing the Sunday School children to be brought into the gallery and taken away to lessons without disturbing the service. This gallery is long disused and the steps beside the pews have become rotten and unsafe. The second floor is the clock chamber, containing an 1889 turret clock mechanism by Potts of Leeds, who as of 2014 continue to maintain it. The clock chamber has no windows and is completely dark. The bell chamber is on the third floor and contains the single bronze bell and clapper for the clock.
  Above the bell frame there is a hole in the bell chamber ceiling, and through that opening can be seen the inside of the spire. It is a hollow cone of stone blocks, unsupported by any interior frame, and is full of light because it has four lucarnes at the bottom, and eight more large openings higher up.
caption: View inside spire
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