St Matthias' Church is an Anglican church in Burley,

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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 exis ...

. The church was completed in 1854 and the north aisle and west porch were added in 1886. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

History

The church was funded by banker

John Smith John Smith is a common personal name. It is also commonly used as a placeholder name and pseudonym, and is sometimes used in the United States and the United Kingdom as a term for an average person. It may refer to: People :''In chronological ...

and its spire by William Beckett. The architects were the Leeds firm of Perkins & Backhouse, who also built St Peter's Bramley. Work began in 1853 by

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingl ...

builder Thomas Moxon, while the church's woodwork and wood carving were crafted by Messrs Winn and Pawson. The font, tablet and all architectural sculpture were executed by

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 and Neoclassical styles. He created the Neoclassical keystone heads on St Ge ...

.''Leeds Intelligencer'', Saturday 11 November 1854 p8 col.5: Consecration of Burley Church, near Leeds"
/ref> In 1886, alterations were made to increase its capacity from 450 to 650 to serve the growing population. Burley had undergone a significant expansion in the intervening years caused mainly by the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

and sale of land for building to the south and west of the church by the Earl of Cardigan.

Present day

St Matthias' Church stands in the

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of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. In the summer of 2018, Burley St Matthias merged with Riverside Church. The resident bell-ringers are the

Leeds University Union Leeds University Union (LUU) is the representative body for the students at the University of Leeds, England. It is led by a group of student sabbatical officers known as the Student Executive, and supported by around 140 full-time staff membe ...

Society of Change Ringers.There is currently a ring of eight bells hung for full circle ringing, replacing a previous set of six bells cast by Taylor and Son of Loughborough. The previous peal of six originated as a peal of three cast in 1854, and were augmented to six one year later in 1855.

References

External links

St Matthias Church website

A Church Near You entry

Parish records from the National Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Matthias' Church, Burley Burley, St. Matthais, Church, Leeds Burley, St. Matthias, Church, Leeds Churches completed in 1854 19th-century Church of England church buildings Burley, Leeds

History

Present day

See also

References

External links