St Mary's Church in

Whitkirk Whitkirk is a suburb of east Leeds, England. It is situated between Cross Gates to the north, Austhorpe to the east, Killingbeck to the west, Colton to the south-east and Halton to the south-west. The Temple Newsam estate lies directly sout ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England is an active Anglican

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the archdeaconry of Leeds and the Diocese of Leeds.

History

A church on this site can be dated back to 1185; although the current church is of 15th century origin, it was extensively restored between 1855 and 1856. The chancel was rebuilt in 1901 by G. F. Bodley after which it remained largely unchanged until it was reordered in 1990. It was Grade I listed on 26 September 1963.

Architectural style

Exterior

The church has a west tower with diagonal buttresses and carved obelisk pinnacles, a two light belfry and a lead-clad spire. There is a heavy nave with aisle parapets. The lychgate, officially opened on 26 June 1949 as a memorial to the dead of the two World Wars, was listed at Grade II in 1976. Stones from

St. Paul’s Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

, Coventry Cathedral, St Martin-le-Grand Church in York,

Leeds Town Hall Leeds Town Hall is a 19th-century municipal building on The Headrow (formerly Park Lane), Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Planned to include law courts, a council chamber, offices, a public hall, and a suite of ceremonial rooms, it was built be ...

and Leeds Museum were used in its construction.

Interior

The church has a short nave with octagonal piers. There is the recumbent tomb of Sir Robert Scargill and his wife with

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

effigies above. On the North side of the chancel there is the tomb to engineer

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fi ...

. File:St Mary's Church Whitkirk interior 01.jpg, interior File:St Mary's Church Whitkirk window 01.jpg, window File:St Mary's Church Whitkirk Sir Robert tomb.jpg, Sir Robert Scargill's tomb File:St Mary's Church Whitkirk organ.jpg, organ File:St Mary's Church Whitkirk roof interior.jpg, Hammer beam roof

References

External links