This 2005 view of St Bartholomew’s Church, Thornley, is taken from roughly the same position as the 1949 photograph of Thornley Band. School Square ran down the road from left to right, where the modern bus stop remains, somewhat marooned, as a testament to busier times. Dating from 1843, the church is now disused and is rumoured to be due for demolition--a fate which would be wholly in keeping with the abject neglect suffered by the village in the 35 years since the closure of the pit.
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2023 caption update: of course, the church was demolished, circa 2009 and a bizarre, vanity project mansion now stands on the same site--which required the removal of many graves and graves stones. This is not quite the respect for the past one would have hoped for from the Church of England, who unforgivably sold off the site which was freely given to them by the original colliery owners way back in the 1840s.
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NEXT PHOTO: Thornley Band marching down Hartlepool Street, in the early 1950s.
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