Horton: All Saints
Diocese of Leeds
Church, 646319
Overview
Grid reference: SE 156 320
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave of five equal bays earth a broader sixth bay opening into transepts; aisles, north and south porches and clearstorey. Chancel with polyagonal apse, vestries on north and organ chamber on south beyond which stands a tower and spire.
Dimensions:
Nave 98ft. by 22 ½ ft.; aisles each 11 ½ ft. wide; chancel 34ft. by 22ft.
Footprint of Church buildings: 879 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
By Thomas Healey, 1861-4. James Mallinson entered partnership with Thomas Healey in 1847 in Bradford, after which they built up a large ecclesiastical practice. After Healey died in c. 1864 the practice was continued by his two sons. This church is therefore a mature work of the father, completed by the sons. The cost of the whole building (£15,000) was paid by Francis Sharp Powell of Horton Old Hall. (The house, which stood just north of the church, was demolished in 1965). The contractor was Israel Thornton, who supplied the stone from his quarries at Calverley Wood, brought by water to Bradford.
Exterior Description
The church is a noble design in thirteenth-century style obviously influenced by such works of Gilbert Scott as All Souls, Halifax. Indeed it could easily be mistaken for one of his churches. The unusual placing of the steeple on the south side of the chancel, rising beside the polygonal apse gives a balanced perspective view seen from Little Horton, the principal local thoroughfare.
The nave is tall and rather narrow in comparison with its height, this quality being emphasised by the tall pair of two-light west windows and the steep pitch of the gable. In the gable is a round window filled with seven sexfoils. The lower windows are shafted and have cinquefoils in the tracery and the arches are outlined by moulded hoods. Separating the nave wall from the aisles are buttresses terminating in gablets decorated with trefoils. The aisle walls each have three-light windows and there are pairs of smaller buttresses at the angles of the aisles in the same style as those on the nave.
Each bay of the aisles is divided from the next by similar buttresses and there is one three-light window in each bay. At the base of the buttresses are bold plinths. The second bay from the west has a porch in both north and south elevations. These have gables and richly moulded outer arches carried on three orders of shafts with foliate capitals. Within the porches are arcades along the side walls, above stone seats, and shafts support ribs across a stone cradle vault on the north, while the south porch has a sexpartite vault. The doors have good scrolling ironwork. The clearstorey windows are shaped like the traceried tops of larger windows, with two-centred arches and straight sills.
The transepts are large, with five-light windows in the north and south gables, gabled angle buttresses and further two-light windows in the east and west walls. The chancel has a three-sided apse with shafted three-light windows under crocketted gablets in the three faces and tall buttresses between carved stone shields of arms. At the eaves is a cornice carved with trefoils. The north and south walls have three two-light windows, those on the south reduced to merely the heads above the organ chamber roof.
South of the organ chamber and against the south transept, rises the tall tower. It is of three stages and marks the principal entrance to the church, in addition to forming a landmark for a wide area. The doorway is in the south face, towards the road, and has three orders of moulding round the arch carried on three recessed orders of shafts, the whole being framed within a crocketted gablet enclosing a roundel carved with a bust of Our Lord Blessing. On buttresses at each side are the arms of the Bishop and Diocese of York. In the east wall is a two-light window with a tracery trefoil. The middle stage has blind arcading of three bays on each face, with only a narrow glazed light in the middle bay of each. The uppermost stage has paired two-light belfry openings without louvres, so that from the cardinal points the tower is transparent from front to back. The stair for access to the upper stages is set within the buttress at the north-east angle. The angle buttresses terminate at gablets at the level of the tracery of the belfry openings, and from this point rise octagonal pinnacles which terminate above the parapet. This, like the chancel parapet, is carved with trefoils and within it rises a tall, elegant broach spire with two tiers of lucarnes. The spire has rolls up the angles and bands of fishscale carved in relief at intervals.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1879
Three windows of the apse contain glass by Clayton and Bell. Depict a number of scenes from the Life of Christ.
Stained Glass
Unknown
North chancel clerestorey by Clayton and Bell.
Stained Glass
Unknown
South chancel clerestorey. Four Saintly Bishops.
Stained Glass
Unknown
South transept south. Four tiers of figures depicting the closing verses of Te Deum. By Clayton and Bell.
Stained Glass
Unknown
South transept west. Two lights and a quatrefoil.
Stained Glass
Unknown
North Transept east. Two lights with six glowing red angels against a deep blue ground each with a scroll. By Clayton and Bell.
Stained Glass
1878
North transept north. Another large window. First of the series depicting the Te Deum. Thirty two figures from Adam and Eve through the Old Testament, the New Testament, to the early church.
Stained Glass
1920
North transept west. Two lights, St Wilfred and St George. By Shrigley and Hunt.
Building Materials
Stone
Unknown
Walls built of freestone, with gritstone dressings.
Slate
Unknown
Roofs
Interior
Interior Description
The interior is yet more reminiscent of Scott's rich thirteenth-century style than the exterior, especially in the details of arch mouldings and foliate capitals with square abaci. The proportions of the quatrefoil nave columns, however, are more attenuated than Scott would have allowed. In the spandrels foliate corbels once carried serpentine shafts rising to support the roof timbers, but the serpentine shafts have been removed, leaving only the corbels, the rings projecting from the moulding at sill level and the carved capitals. The walls are ashlar faced throughout and the open timber roof has arch braces at each bay. Roll mouldings round the arch of each aisle window die into plain responds. The arches to the transepts are almost twice as broad as those of the arcades and are separated from them by piers of masonry. They are carried on imposts of triple clustered shafts, again with moulded bases and foliate capitals of rather French style. The west end of the nave has been cut off to form a meeting room with kitchens and lavatories, and the font therefore now stands in the south transept; near it a doorway leads to the principal porch in the base of the tower, and between this and the chancel the organ opens into the transept behind a metal grille. In the equivalent position on the north side a Caernarvon-arched doorway opens to the vestry, and the north transept has been screened to form a chapel. At the front of the nave is a large square pulpit of alabaster and iron, in keeping with the church.
The chancel is only one step above the level of the nave. It has a floor of red and grey marble paviours laid lozenge-wise in the sanctuary, and brown and buff patterned tiles between the stalls. The north wall is blind in the lower part save for a doorway opening to the vestry and then there are the three two-light windows within shafted arches above. On the south side a large richly moulded arch opens to the organ chamber. Nearby are two sedilia and the apse has three bays of arcading of trefoiled arches on polished red marble colounns under the windows. In the angles between the windows the serpentine shafts have again been removed, leaving only the bases, two tiers of stone rings and splendid foliate capitals. The arch-braced roof is panelled between the ribs. The windows are glazed with a comprehensive scheme of stained glass by Clayton and Bell which adds greatly to the effect of richness. A blind arch in the north chancel wall might have been intended to house the founder's tomb.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
1936
The altar is of oak, rather heavyt in design with fleurons on the uprights between panels carved with the Agnus Dei and four angels.
Reredos
1936
In perpendicular style with figures of St Peter and St Paul at each end and panels with traceried canopies between.
Pulpit
1864
Large, likely designed by the church architects. The square alabaster base has short colonettes with broad stylised capitals at each angle and a central square support set diagonally. The body is of iron with brass pillars at the angles and a panel of wrought iron in each face which is probably the work of Skidmore. The steps have excellent brass rails of cable design and square iron uprights.
Lectern
1880
Large brass eagle. In memoriam of the late Jonathan Knowles of Denholme Gate.
Font (object)
Unknown
Alabaster. Circular on an octagonal base and a short wide drum. Thebowl has ten trefoiled arches all round and a plain, flat, oak cover.
Organ (object)
1865
Originally by Hedgeland of London, 1865. Rebuilt in 1892 by J J Binns of Leeds. Lower part of the case carved in the same style as the choirstalls. Above that are free-standing pipes restrained by an iron grille with scrolls, flowers and foliage and a central cross under a gablet, all likely the works of Skidmore.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SE 156 320
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.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
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
Sources
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