Church Heritage Record 646168

6-bay aisled nave, chancel, west tower, vestry.

Nave c.50ft by 25ft

Built in 1845 by R D Chantrell (1793-1872). Chantrell was a pupil of John Soane and from 1819 had a practice in Leeds. Chantrell favoured the Classical style and completed a series of Greek Revival public buildings in Leeds, however he recognised that in order to secure ecclesiastical commissions he would have to exploit the popular Gothic style and did so widely in Leeds and the surrounding area between 1823-1850. The church has had little in the way of alterations although at one stage there was a gallery at the west end.

The prominent position of this church in the landscape adds dignity to a competent essay in the perpendicular style. The west tower is of three stages, separated by string-courses; the first stage is blank except for a tiny slit light in the north face and then the south doorway; a pointed moulded arch with nicely carved head stops. The door has blind tracery and leads into an internal porch; this is the only entrance to the church other than through the vestry.

The second stage of the tower is irregular; on all faces other than the west it is a short stage with a single cusped light under a pointed arch with hood mould and foliate stops, the eastern light set slightly lower and now bricked up. The west face however has an extended stage that allows for a larger perpendicular two-light window matching exactly the windows in the west faces of each aisle and therefore presenting a pleasingly symmetrical aspect. The third stage has two-light bell openings on each side, again in the perpendicular style under pointed arches with moulding and foliate stops. Above the bell opening are clock faces added in 1926. There is a battlemented parapet and four crocketed pinnacles.

The aisle fenestration is precise with six equal two-light perpendicular windows under square heads each divided from the next by buttresses of two weatherings; there are no windows in the east faces of the aisles. The slate roof of the aisles is coped with kneelers and a string course runs underneath the windows. The south chancel wall has a two-light window in the same style as the aisles; the main east window is a 3-light perpendicular window under a pointed arch with moulding and carved angels stops.

A small vestry leans onto the chancel to the east of the north aisle. It has its own squat buttress and east window and north door, each of this openings is under a slight shouldered arch. A chimney rises from the north west corner of the chancel roof.

The bottom of the tower creates a small porch with a door leading up into the tower and also a double shouldered arch doorway into the nave. 

Standing at the west end of the nave, the contrast of stone columns with painted arches and suspended lights leads the eye right up to the chancel arch and beyond. Above your head at this point, there is a three-light perpendicular window into the tower set in a pointed arch, the rectangular quarries are of multicoloured glass as can be found throughout most of the church.

The aisle arcades are carried on octagonal piers with moulded capitals from which spring continuous moulded arches. The steep timber roof has arch braces and the painted corbels are mimics of the moulded capitals.

The chancel arch is the same style as the arcading and the capitals are built directly into the wall without supporting columns. The ceiling is painted a bright blue and the roof is similar to that in the nave. There are three steps up to the chancel, which has a central carpeted section and a pleasant ensemble of wooden fittings.

The north aisle has two panelled vestry areas, one at each end. The west end has the smaller but slightly higher area, it occupies the full width of the aisle and the first window on the north side. Glass panels of coloured quarries provide limited decoration. The panelled area at the east end occupies two bays and the width of the aisle.

The aisle roofs are more complex than the nave and are arch braced to a collar beam with queen posts.