Our Lady of Lourdes Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in the parish of St Jeanne Jugan,

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 ...

. It was built by the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

in the 1920s and it is situated on Cardigan Road in

Burley, Leeds Burley is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, north-west of Leeds city centre, between the A65 road, A65 Kirkstall Road at the south and Headingley at the north, in the Kirkstall ward. Etymology The name is first attested ...

History

When the church was originally built it was called the Sacred Heart Chapel, because it was a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

for the Sacred Heart

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

in Leeds.Our Lady of Lourdes Leeds
from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. Retrieved 10 March 2014

Foundation

In 1890, a provost of Leeds Cathedral, Browne, created a Mass centre for the Burley area when he bought a cottage on the corner of Poplar Street and Burley Road. This became the home of the Sacred Heart Parish. In 1905, William Gordon, Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds, invited the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

to take over the running of it. Shortly afterwards, the presbytery was moved to Vinery Road and the Jesuits built a church on the site of the old cottage, which became the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

of the local area, Sacred Heart Church. A small primary school, Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, was built to the rear of the church. The Jesuits also started a nearby secondary school, Leeds Catholic College on 18 September 1905. In 1933, it became St Michael's College.

Construction

Plans for Sacred Heart Chapel began in the early 1920s, James O’Brien created another presbytery by acquiring a house on the Cardigan Road. In 1925 plans were drawn up by J. Armstrong of Leeds for a new church hall to be built next to the presbytery. Unfortunately, work came to a halt soon afterwards, supposedly because of ‘the fraudulent activities of the architect’. Three years later, the new architect Edward Simpson brought the construction to a close by finishing the building in 1930. He altered the designs of the building so that it could be used as both a chapel and a church hall. It was named Sacred Heart Chapel after the main parish church it was attached to. In 1932, a new choir gallery and organ were built at the west side of the chapel. In 1939, a hall for the 'Boys' Club' was built, which became the present church hall.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church

In 1947, the Jesuits withdrew from the area and handed over the entire Sacred Heart parish, both the

and the

, to the Diocese of Leeds, who continue to minister to the local Catholic population.Our Lady of Lourdes
from jeannejuganleeds.org.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2014 In 1954, the

became a separate parish and was renamed Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Church. In 1959, the interior was renovated by the architect Derek Walker. Within the church is a fresco by Aidan Hart, who also worked on the Saint John's Bible. LeedsGrandMosque01

Sacred Heart Church

In the 1960s, the

County Borough of Leeds The County Borough of Leeds, and its predecessor, the Municipal Borough of Leeds, was a local government district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1835 to 1974. Its origin was the ancient borough of Leed ...

undertook large-scale construction projects across the city. Sacred Heart Church, the primary school, and the Poplar Street area were all demolished. The school moved to Eden Way, between the Kirkstall Road and Argie Avenue, where it still continues. Sacred Heart Church was rebuilt in the Hyde Park area. It was a modernist building designed also by Derek Walker. In the 1990s, the church was sold and was bought in 1994 by Sheikh Saif Bin Muhammad Al-Nehayyan of Abu Dhabi, who converted it into Leeds Grand Mosque.

Architecture

Exterior

Our Lady of Lourdes Church, which was once a hall, is built with red bricks with stone bands and a mansard slate roof. The front entrance has three smaller slit windows either side of it and a larger Venetian window above it. The stone banding forms a parapet above the entrance. There is a statue of

Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (; ) is one the Marian devotions, devotional names or titles under which the Catholic Church venerates the Mary, mother of Jesus, Virgin Mary. The name commemorates a series of Lourdes apparitions, 18 apparitions reported by ...

on the parapet. Either side of the main entrance are doric designed columns on a rusticated frame.

Interior

In 1959, attempts were made by the architect, Derek Walker, to have the building look more like a place of worship than a church hall. The old sanctuary was removed and entirely replaced. It was lowered by two feet and two screens made of metal were placed either side of the sanctuary allowing for two separate spaces. The stained glass panel to the left of the altar depicts

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

and the panel to the left depicts Our Lady of Lourdes. There are frieze bands above the screens depicting the heads of angels. The altar reredos is a white panel made of plaster. The altar is made of Hopton Wood stone and shows Jesus with the twelve apostles. The church is composed of one single space without separation. The ceiling has a series of trusses with timber slats attached to them. Above the altar is a metal canopy, designed by Walker, that resembles the crown of thorns. To the right of the sanctuary is a Blessed Sacrament chapel with a polychrome enamel tabernacle. The sacristy is behind the sanctuary and is the same width as the church. There is a narthex with a porch, entrance lobby and toilets at the west end of the church.

St Jeanne Jugan Parish

In 2010, the parish was merged with St Urban's church to become one parish named after St Jeanne Jugan. The church has one Sunday Mass every week, at 8:45 am on Sundays. St Urban's Church has Mass times not to conflict with Our Lady of Lourdes church, it has Mass at 6:00 pm on Saturdays and at 10:30 am on Sundays. St Urban's Church usually has Mass from Monday to Friday at 9:15 am, whereas Our Lady of Lourdes Church has a Mass at midday on Saturday.Parishes
from Diocese of Leeds. Retrieved 11 March 2014 File:St Urban's Catholic Church - Grove Road, Headingley - geograph.org.uk - 379998.jpg, St Urban's Church, within the same parish as Our Lady of Lourdes Church File:St Urban's Catholic Church - Grove Road - geograph.org.uk - 783490.jpg, East side of the St Urban's Church

References

External links

St Jeanne Jugan Parish site

Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leeds, Our Lady of Lourdes

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1930 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Burley, Leeds 1930 establishments in England