United Benefice of Thornhill & Whitley Lower

Serving our local communities

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 Whitley Lower Parish Church

                  dedicated to St Mary and St Michael and situated in the                                                                        delightful village of Whitley. 

                We are part of the United Benefice of Thornhill and Whitley.

        Service of Holy Communion at 11.15 each week

 we hope that you can come, not that you should come.

 If you've any questions you can email or my phone number is 
01924 499833. 
 Marjorie Wheelhouse Churchwarden 
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 Whitley Church is open every Thursday and Saturday 

10am-4pm*

 Please come in and see this peaceful and beautiful building

Rector  -  Revd Debbie Nash

Debbie at induction

    Contact Churchwarden      01924 499833

Find out more about Whitley Church here

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Every 3rd Saturday  2024

mc 1st

an initiative from both our churches


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Coming Soon to Whitley

events for Whitley are included in the Pew Sheet and 

feature on the What's on Page in the main section of the site

For full details of services and events in the Benefice please check the News Calendar and Services page

click here



An initiative of both our churches but held in Thornhill


Whitley Parish Church 2

view of interior showing new toilets and entry lobby at top right

Whitley Parish Church 3

view of interior showing restored East end**




Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults

We take this issue really seriously and our policies, approved  by the Church of England and our Diocese, are designed to underpin this.

Our church safeguarding officers are Helen Armitage. 01924461831 for Thornhill and Heather Fielden 01924 491104 for Whitley

Please find Church of England policy for safeguarding here and more information from the Diocese of Leeds safeguarding can be found here 

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If there are immediate serious concerns about the safety of a child or 
Adult you should contact the Kirklees Safeguarding Team

KIRKLEES : Child day 01484 456848 OUt of hours  01484 414933
  Adult Day  01484 221000  Out of hours 01484 414933
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 News Archive

                                 mac

Whitley Parish Church Saturday 7th September 10-12 Join us for our fabulous MacMillan coffee morning. We'll be serving lashings of tea, buckets of coffee, crispy crumpets, marvellous muffins and heavenly home-made cakes, all with the Whitley Welcome! 

                                                    tea

Come along to Whitley Church on Saturday 17th August 2-4pm for afternoon tea. With a delicious selection of savoury and sweet food available
Donations of £5 per person or £20 a family are welcome or feel free to be as generous as you can to help the upkeep of this beautiful church.
See more here

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Harvest at Whitley 

Whitley enjoyed their Harvest service   These photos show some of the lovely floral displays decorating the beautiful church for this special day

harv2017   harv2017

harv 2017

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One of the highlights of the calendar at Whitley is our Christingle service held on Christmas Eve at 4.00 p.m. 

We are often very lucky to welcome Jeremiah the donkey along  with Mary, Joseph and the angel Gabriel 

(with the help of our enthusiastic volunteers) into church this year

2016                      2016

The Local Area

With a population just below 500, the parish of Whitley Lower is set around the two villages of Briestfield and Whitley bordering the larger parish of Thornhill. It is mainly a rural farming area with little industry or commerce except a haulage depot near the church and an Ice Cream Parlour.  The local pub in Whitley - the Woolpack is thriving and serves excellent food and drink.. There are no shops in either community which means travelling at least 5 miles for major shopping. Whitley has an hourly bus connection to Thornhill, Dewsbury and Wakefield, but there is no service for Briestfield.

Whitley and Briestfield formed a part of the ancient parish of Thornhill and became a parish in its own right in 1847, with the building of St Mary and St Michael’s.