Leeds Minster
| Leeds Minster | |
|
Leeds, Yorkshire | |
|---|---|
| Status: | Parish church |
_012.jpg) The Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds | |
| Church of England | |
| Diocese of Leeds | |
| Parish: | SE306332 |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE306332 |
| Location: | 53°47’42"N, 1°32’10"W |
| History | |
| Information | |
| Website: | www.leedsminster.org |
Leeds Minster, or the Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds, is the parish church for central Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It stands on the site of the oldest church in the city and is of architectural and liturgical significance.
A church is recorded on the site as early as the 7th century, although the present structure is a Gothic Revival one, designed by Robert Dennis Chantrell and completed in 1841. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and was the Parish Church of Leeds before receiving the honorific title of "Minster" in 2012. It is a Grade I listed building.[1]
History
A church at Ledes is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, although it is likely that there had been a church on the same site for much longer, as evidenced by the fragments of Anglo-Scandinavian stone crosses (known as the Leeds Cross) found on the site during the construction of the current church. The church was rebuilt twice, after a fire in the 14th century, and again in the 19th century. Walter Farquhar Hook, Vicar of Leeds from 1837 until preferment as Dean of Chichester in 1859 was responsible for the construction of the present building, and of the revitalisation of the Anglican church throughout Leeds as a whole. The architect was Robert Dennis Chantrell. [2]
It was originally intended only to remodel the church in order to provide space for a larger congregation. In November 1837 a scheme was approved under which the tower would have been moved from the crossing to the north side, the chancel widened to the same breadth as the nave, and the north aisle roof raised. When work began, however, it was discovered that much of the structure was in a perilous condition, and it was decided to replace the church completely.[3] The new building was the largest new church in England built since Sir Christopher Wren's St Paul's Cathedral erected after the Great Fire of London and consecrated in 1707. The new parish church was rebuilt by voluntary contributions from the townspeople at a cost of over £29,000 and consecrated on 2 September 1841.[4] Florence Nightingale and Dr Edward Bouverie Pusey were among the congregation and Dr Samuel Sebastian Wesley played the organ.
The east end was altered between 1870 and 1880.[1]
The parish church became 'Leeds Minster' in a ceremony on Sunday 2 September 2012, on the 171st anniversary of the consecration of the building.[5][6] Leeds is one of four 'minster churches' in the West Riding, the others being Dewsbury Minster, Halifax Minster and Rotherham, Minster.
Although it stands in the Diocese of Leeds, this church is not a cathedral, and indeed there is no Anglican cathedral in the city: instead the diocese has three cathedrals, Bradford, Wakefield, and Ripon, and while it has been proposed that Leeds Minster be named a 'pro-cathedral', it remains a plain parish church.
Architecture
Cruciform in plan, the church is built in ashlar stone with slate roofs,[1] in an imitation of the English Gothic style of the late 14th century, a period of transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular. The church is 180 feet long and 86 feet wide, its tower rising to 139 feet. The chancel and nave each have four bays of equal length with clerestories and tall aisles.[4] The tower is situated at the centre of north aisle. Below the tower on the north side is the main entrance. The tower has four unequal stages with panelled sides and corner buttresses terminating in crocketed turrets with openwork battlements and crocketted pinnacles. The clock was made by Potts of Leeds.[1]
Furnishings, fittings, glass and treasures
The windows exhibit Perpendicular tracery and there is a five-light east window from 1846 containing glass collected on the continent. At the east end the sanctuary has a marble arcade with mosaics by Salviati of Venice, and the reredos is made of coloured marble and alabaster by George Edmund Street.[1]
A peal of 13 bells was cast by Mears in 1842. These bells were then recast into the current peal by John Taylor of Loughborough in 1932. The tenor bell weighs 4,535 lb.[7]
The organ, parts of which date from 1841 and earlier, is essentially a Harrison and Harrison of 1914 vintage, but incorporating significant amounts of pipework by Edmund Schulze. It was restored in 1927 and 1949 by Harrison and Harrison; in 1965 by Wood, Wordsworth and in 1997 by Andrew Carter. The restoration of the blowing plant and refurbishment of the blower house were undertaken in 1997 by Allfab Engineering of Methley.
Among many artefacts and memorials in the church are the Anglo-Saxon Leeds Cross: this cross is found to the south of the marble pavement known as the altar flat and its pieces were discovered in 1838 when the mediæval church was demolished.[8] There is also a brass commemorating Captain Oates of Scott's Antarctic expedition, who had Leeds connections. Flemish stained glass enhances the apse of Chantrell's interior – he designed the windows to fit the glass – and of more recent date (1997) is Sally Scott's Angel Screen at the north tower porch entrance, an example of contemporary glass engraving and a gift from the family of Lord Marshall of Leeds. The Christopher Beckett memorial and most of the architectural sculpture is by Robert Mawer.[9]
Outside in the churchyard, facing out onto Kirkgate, is the Leeds Rifles War Memorial, which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled on 13 November 1921. It is separately a grade II listed building.[10]
Minster
The Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds is in the Diocese of Leeds, in the Parish of Leeds City along with the Georgian Church of Holy Trinity, Boar Lane and the congregation of St Mary's Lincoln Green worshipping weekly in the Hall of St Peter's Church of England Primary School, Cromwell Street, Burmantofts. The minster is at the easternmost extremity of the city centre, within a precinct bordering two of the city's oldest thoroughfares – Kirkgate (now part of the Inner City Loop Road) to the north, and The Calls to the south. Another ancient pathway, High Court Ings, connects the western precinct with High Court.
Leeds Minster is a member of the Greater Churches Group. Sir John Betjeman in a BBC Broadcast remarked that: "There's High Church, Low Church and Leeds Parish Church".
The church is illuminated at night by floodlights donated by Tetley's brewery.
The Minster archives are held at the Leeds office of the local Archive Service. The church has memorials to families who were prominent in the parish, including the Kitchingman, Fenton, Lodge, Milner, Cookson, and Ibbetsons.[11]
On 2 September 2012 Leeds Parish Church became a ‘minster’.[12]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Leeds Minster) |
- Leeds Minster
- RSCM
- Simon Lindley Website (Dr Simon Lindley previous Director of Music)
- St Peter's Singers
- Leeds Minster organ recitals
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 National Heritage List 1375046: Parish Church of St Peter (Grade @ listing)
- ↑ "St Peter's Church, Leeds, UK | 263604". https://www.emporis.com/buildings/263604/st-peters-church-leeds-united-kingdom.
- ↑ "Introduction". The seven sermons preached at the consecration and re-opening of the parish church of Leeds, with an introduction. Leeds: T.W. Green. 1841. pp. iv–xi.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "An extract from "The Annals of Yorkshire", published in 1862". GENUKI. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/Transcriptions/WRY/LeedsParishChurch1817.html.
- ↑ "Leeds Parish church has become a minster". BBC News. 2 September 2012. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-19455488.
- ↑ "Special ceremony in honour of Leeds Parish Church's new minster title". Yorkshire Evening Post. 3 September 2012. http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/special-ceremony-in-honour-of-leeds-parish-church-s-new-minster-title-1-4890418.
- ↑ "Leeds, S Peter". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Leeds&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=LEEDS+++SP.
- ↑ Linstrum, Derek (1969). Historic Architecture of Leeds. Oriel Press. pp. 6.
- ↑ Leeds Times, Saturday 18 November 1854 p5: The late Mr Mawer", and p.8: "Deaths".
- ↑ National Heritage List 1375049: North Boundary Wall and Steps, North West Gate and Piers, War Memorial and East Bar Stone (Grade II listing)
- ↑ Benfield, Chris (26 November 2007). "New Book Explores Church's Hidden History". Yorkshire Post. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/New-book-explores-church39s-hidden.3521511.jp.
- ↑ "Leeds Parish Church to become Minster". BBC News (BBC). 20 February 2012. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-17099065.
- Pullan, Margaret (2007). The Monuments of the Parish Church of St Peter-at-Leeds. Publications of the Thoresby Society. Maney Publishing. pp. 244. ISBN 978-1-905981-52-6. http://www.maney.co.uk/index.php/books/monuments/.