Nominal: 518 Hz Weight: 4535 lbs Diameter: 60.5" Bell 1 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 3921 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Leeds Minster
Diocese of Leeds
Major Parish Church, 646379
Overview
Grid reference: SE 306 333
Leeds Minsteris a large early Victorian church, situated on the north bank of the River Aire to the south-east of the centre of the City of Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Minster with its fixed furnishings is Grade I-listed; its boundary walls and their associated structures are separately listed at Grade II; and it stands in a Conservation Area. It is a local landmark, its pinnacled tower widely visible. St Peter’s is the historic parish church of Leeds. Together with Kirkgate, the street that runs past the church to the north, the Minster represents the oldest part of the city. The site may have been occupied by at least four previous churches since the seventh century.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Footprint of Church buildings: 1686 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The present church dates predominantly from 1837-1841, when the preceding medieval church was rebuilt by Robert Dennis Chantrell during the incumbency of Dr Walter Farquhar Hook.
The Minster has been the site of continuous Christian worship since perhaps the seventh century, and, with Kirkgate, represents the oldest continuously inhabited part of the city of Leeds. The Minster contains hundreds of monuments dating from the mid-fifteenth century to the present, including many war memorials, reflecting its significance as the historic parish church; and, yet earlier, the reconstructed Anglo-Saxon cross on the altar flats which attests to the significance of Leeds as a religious centre in the ninth to tenth centuries. The Minster is also of paramount importance in the history of Anglican architecture and liturgy in the nineteenth century. It is amongst the most renowned churches of its era, “one of the key ecclesiastical projects of the time, a landmark in both the scholarly revival of the Gothic style and the high-church revival of Anglican Christianity.”
Exterior Description
ts exterior is an early exemplar of ‘scholarly’ Gothic. The Minster is the most important work of Robert Dennis Chantrell, an architect of regional significance. The church was a landmark in the scholarly revival of the Gothic style (which was to have a particular impact on the architecture of Leeds throughout the nineteenth century). The design of the Minster is coherent, well-proportioned and well-detailed. Chantrell’s repositioning of the tower to the north side significantly improved the building’s visibility from the town centre.
Building Materials
Sandstone
MEDIEVAL
Rawden Hill Stone
Slate
MEDIEVAL
Slate
Interior
Interior Description
The interior reflects the “liturgical dilemma” faced by the church at the start of Queen Victoria’s reign: its west end is a Georgian-style “preaching box”, crammed with seating focussed on the pulpit; its raised east end, of equal length, prefigured the reforms of the Ecclesiologists in allowing generous space for ritual in the sanctuary and in front of the altar, as well as providing stalls for a robed choir for the daily choral services that were one of Dr Hook’s most influential innovations. It has been called “internally, probably the country’s most important church of its date,” and is largely unaltered, save for the removal of pews at the west end, and the reordering of the north aisle and, to a lesser extent, of the Lady Chapel. The church contains many furnishings and memorials of significance.
The tower base functions as the entrance, a dramatic introduction to the building. It gives access to the crossing, Lady Chapel and City of Leeds Room. The Lady Chapel is dedicated as a war memorial and contains many individual memorials. It offers a discrete space in the church for worship or other events. It contains loose seating of local importance and a more significant altar and reredos of the 1920s. The City of Leeds Room, formed by the subdivision of the outer north aisle, functions as a café and gift shop; it also contains the lavatories. The room is useful for its purpose but its connection with the main body of the church and also the exterior of the building could perhaps be improved.
The crossing is of high significance as it forms the point of entry to the main body of the church building and is the pivot around which the organisation of the building turns: to the east, the choir stalls and chancel; to the west, the congregational seating; ahead, the towering organ that fills the south transept. Similarly, the principal east-west vista and its principal aesthetic components – including the high altar and reredos, the choir stalls, pulpit, nave pews and font – are of high architectural significance. The sanctuary and altar flats are of high architectural importance as the visual focus of the building. The altar flats offer a large area to gather but may present access difficulties for wheelchair users and the infirm. The chancel contains the choir stalls: these are of particular historical significance because of the importance of the Minster in the history of church music. Similarly, the Corporation stalls at the crossing reflect the historical importance of the Minster as the civic church.
The Minster contains many items designed by significant architects and designers of the nineteenth century, including the reredos by G. E. Street incorporating designs by Clayton & Bell; the sanctuary apse mosaics by Salviati; the Lady Chapel reredos by F. C. Eden; the effigial monument by Sir Gilbert Scott; and the font by Butterfield. Earlier items of artistic significance include the Anglo-Saxon cross on the altar flats; the Elizabethan Hardwicke tomb and the Walker and Beckett monument by Flaxman, among many other monuments; and the sixteenth-century altar in St Katherine’s chapel. Glass in the church includes Flemish glass of the sixteenth century, several good Victorian windows, and most recently the “Jacob’s Ladder” window in etched glass that fills the tower arch.
Bells
Nominal: 1554 Hz Weight: 650 lbs Diameter: 27.5" Bell 2 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27954 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1387 Hz Weight: 694 lbs Diameter: 28.88" Bell 3 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27955 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1307 Hz Weight: 698 lbs Diameter: 29.25" Bell 4 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27956 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1163 Hz Weight: 767 lbs Diameter: 31.13" Bell 5 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27957 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1037 Hz Weight: 786 lbs Diameter: 32.5" Bell 6 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27958 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 976 Hz Weight: 848 lbs Diameter: 33.55" Bell 7 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27959 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 872 Hz Weight: 1176 lbs Diameter: 37.25" Bell 8 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27960 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 776 Hz Weight: 1525 lbs Diameter: 41" Bell 9 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27961 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 692.5 Hz Weight: 1908 lbs Diameter: 45" Bell 10 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27962 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 653 Hz Weight: 2306 lbs Diameter: 47.88" Bell 11 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27963 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 581.5 Hz Weight: 3171 lbs Diameter: 53.5" Bell 12 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27964 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 924 Hz Weight: 1002 lbs Diameter: 35.5" Bell 13 of 14
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1932
Dove Bell ID: 27965 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 2172 Hz Diameter: 17.25" Bell 14 of 14
Founded by Unidentified (blank)
Dove Bell ID: 65576 Tower ID: 13165 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: SE 306 333
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Quinquennial Inspections
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