St Mary's Church is located on Church Lane next to

Swillington Swillington is a village and civil parish near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. It is situated east from Leeds city centre, north of the River Aire, and is surrounded by streams including Fleaking ...

Primary School, on Wakefield Road,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. There has been a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

at this location for at least 900 years. The ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086 notes that 'a church is there' but no other records of that building remain. The church on the site today is a

Grade II* 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 ...

listed building, over 600 years old, built around 1360. The tower was renovated in 1883–1884 with Harehills Stone, which has now weathered almost black, in stark contrast to the creamy yellow of the rest of the exterior. Thomas Dealtry, rector of Swillington 1872–1878, is credited with having introduced the habit of throwing confetti at weddings, from his observation of rice thrown at Hindu weddings in his previous position as Archdeacon of Madras. His predecessor, the Rev A. F. A. Woodford, rector 1847–1872, was a noted masonic scholar and publisher, and became Grand Chaplain in 1863. He is credited, in 1886, with passing to

William Wynn Westcott William Wynn Westcott (17 December 1848 – 30 July 1925) was a British coroner, ceremonial magician, theosophist and Freemason born in Leamington, Warwickshire, England. He was a Supreme Magus (chief) of the S.R.I.A. and went on to co- ...

the

Cipher Manuscripts The ''Cipher Manuscripts'' are a collection of 60 folios containing the structural outline of a series of magical initiation rituals corresponding to the spiritual elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire. The "occult" materials in the ''Manuscrip ...

leading to the formation of the

Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, ...

References

External links

* * Grade II* listed churches in West Yorkshire Church of England church buildings in West Yorkshire {{england-church-stub