St. Stephen's Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church in

Kirkstall Kirkstall is a north-western suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. The area sits in the Kirkstall (ward), Kirkstall electoral ward, ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central and Headingley (UK Parl ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. The church has been

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

since 5 August 1976.

Location

The church is located on Morris Lane in Kirkstall. The church sits on high ground overlooking Kirkstall Abbey.

History

Construction started in 1828 and the church opened in 1829 having been built by architect Robert Dennis Chantrell, architect o
Leeds Parish Church
The church was restored and extended between 1863 and 1864 by architects Perkin and Backhouse of Leeds, with further alterations made in 1874 by Henry Walker.

Architectural style

Exterior

The church is built to a gothic revival style of hammer-dresses

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

and has a slate roof. The nave has five lancet windows. The church has a west tower of three stages with a spire and clock.

Interior

There is a six-bay nave. The original chancel had two bays; this has been extended to three. There is a wooden reredos depicting saints and a carved square wooden pulpit. The east window is Christ in Glory flanked by

St Stephen Stephen (; ) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity."St ...

and St Paul. Carvings dating from the 1864 renovation are by Burstall and Taylor of Leeds, who executed label stop heads, carved corbels and the font.''Leeds Intelligencer'', Saturday 13 August 1864 p5 col3: Reopening of St Stephen's Church, Kirkstall
/ref>

Church hall

The church has a separate church hall of mid-twentieth century construction with a barrelled roof. This is not listed. St Stephen Kirkstall 003.jpg, The church prior to 1914. St Stephen Kirkstall 002.jpg, Interior prior to 1914. St Stephen's Church Hall - Norman Street - geograph.org.uk - 665500.jpg, St. Stephen's Church Hall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkstall, St. Stephen's Church of England church buildings in West Yorkshire Grade II listed buildings in West Yorkshire Anglican Diocese of Leeds St Stephen's Church