Gateway Church (formerly St Mark's Church) in Woodhouse,

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 ...

, West Yorkshire, England is an

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

church. It was the

Anglican parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of St Mark until its closure in 2005. It reopened as Gateway Church in 2014.

History

St Mark's was built as a Church of England

Commissioners' Church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in England or Wales built with money voted by Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament as a result of the (58 Geo. 3. ...

between 1823 and 1825 by Peter Atkinson Junior and Richard Hey Sharp, and consecrated in January 1826. A parish was formed for the church in 1831 by dividing the extensive parish of

St Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...

which had seen a large increase in population. The west gallery was added in 1832–1833. A south gallery added in 1837–1837 was removed in the early 20th century. Local architects Adams & Kelly added

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

to the windows and replaced the pews (originally

box pews A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

) in 1873. The church has fine stained glass by

Clayton and Bell Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832� ...

, and others. St Mark's was one of three Commissioners' churches built in Leeds, and is the only one to survive. The church was declared

redundant Redundancy or redundant may refer to: Language * Redundancy (linguistics), information that is expressed more than once Engineering and computer science * Data redundancy, database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more table ...

in 2001; it fell into a state of relative disrepair and was listed on Historic England's ' Buildings at Risk' register.

Gateway Church

The building and grounds were bought in 2008 by Gateway Buildings Trust, a registered charity and private company closely linked to Gateway Church, a local

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

charity established in 2000. The trust carried out repair, renovation and interior remodelling at a reported cost of £1.5million, largely funded by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

. Gateway Church began to meet at the church in 2014. The building is also used for community meetings and conferences.

Architectural style

Exterior

The church is built of coursed squared stone and ashlar with a pitched slate roof. The church has a west tower made up of three stages. The church has a six-bay nave and chancel. The tower has a west door, two-light belfry windows and three-light windows to its second stage. It is topped by octagonal pinnacles.

Interior

The church has a single continuous nave and chancel with a vestry and oak-cased organ at the east end of the north aisle and a side chapel at the east end of the south aisle. There is a reredos of carved stone. There is a painted octagonal stone font and an octagonal pulpit with traceried panels installed as a memorial to the Reverend J. S. Abbott in 1891. A mezzanine level was added during the 21st-century renovation, dividing some of the windows, to create meeting rooms and a café below. File:St Mark Woodhouse Leeds 004.jpg, Church interior between 1900 and 1914 File:St Mark Woodhouse 4943295 e122fe73.jpg, The chancel with three steps up File:St Mark Woodhouse 4943267 fe9aa6bd.jpg, Mezzanine level added during renovation

Monuments and memorials

The churchyard has a tall monument with two angels, to local architectural sculptor

Robert Mawer Robert Mawer (Nidderdale 1807 - Leeds 10 November 1854) was an architectural sculptor, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He specialised in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival and Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical styles. ...

(1807–1854), who made works for several West Riding churches. It was probably carved by his wife

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

(1803–1877). The monument was Grade II listed in 1997, but since then an urn and the heads of the angels have been removed. On the north wall of the nave a crocketed arch has a plaque carved with ivy leaves commemorating William Schofield (d. 1857), John Coultate (d. 1864), and Hannah (d. 1860) and Alice (d. 1863) Craven. There is a monument to the east end of the north aisle inside the vestry dedicated to Susannah Blesard (d. 1856). Since the renovation most of the monument is concealed behind shelving. The monument was carved by Catherine Mawer and is now in a worn condition. File:Robert and Catherine Mawer gravestone 005.jpg, Monument to

File:St Mark Woodhouse 001.jpg, Schofield-Coultate memorial File:Susannah Blesard Memorial 026.jpg, Susannah Blesard memorial

Filming location

The church was used as the 'Parish Church of St Matthew' in 2014 ITV series ''

The Beiderbecke Affair ''The Beiderbecke Affair'' is a television series produced in the United Kingdom by ITV (TV network), ITV during 1985, written by the prolific Alan Plater, whose lengthy credits in British television since the 1960s included the four-part mini se ...

''. The interior shots, including the crypt which featured heavily, were filmed however in St Peter's Church in

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

(demolished 2014).

References

External links

Gateway Church, Leeds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodhouse, St Mark's Church Grade II listed churches in Leeds Church of England church buildings in West Yorkshire Anglo-Catholic church buildings in West Yorkshire Gothic Revival architecture in Leeds