St Peter's Church, also known as Huddersfield Parish Church, is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

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 ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, West Yorkshire, England. There has been a church on the site since the 11th century, but the current building dates from 1836. It is on the Kirkgate near Southgate in the centre of the town and is a Grade II*

listed building 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, Hi ...

.Nostalgia: With gallery - A glimpse inside Huddersfield Parish Church St Peter’s history
from ''

Huddersfield Daily Examiner The ''Huddersfield Daily Examiner'' is an English local daily evening newspaper covering news and sport from Huddersfield, England, and its surrounding areas. History The first edition was published as a weekly, starting on 6 September 1851 ...

'', 19 September 2012, retrieved 6 March 2015

History

In legend, the first church on the site was built in the 11th century by Walter de Lacy, the second son of Ilbert de Lacy. Walter decided to build the church after he survived being thrown from his horse and landing in a swamp. The church was rebuilt in the 16th century. From 1759 to 1771, Henry Venn was vicar of the church. By the early 19th century, the town of Huddersfield was growing rapidly as a result of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

and the parish church was too small to cope. In order to address this, Holy Trinity Church was opened in 1819 as 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 ...

within the parish of St Peter's, before becoming a parish church in its own right in 1857. By the 1830s the 16th-century parish church needed urgent repairs, and it was decided to rebuild it again. The architect was James Pigott Pritchett and construction was carried out from 1834 to 1836. To keep costs down during construction, the bricks used were from the previous church on the site, which meant that repairs were needed overcome the deficient materials. Two octagonal vestries were added at the east end: one on the north side in or before 1851, and a choir vestry on the south side in 1879. Windows designed by

Thomas Willement Thomas Willement (18 July 1786 – 10 March 1871) was an English stained glass artist and writer, called "the father of Victorian stained glass", active from 1811 to 1865. Life Willement was born at St Marylebone, London, the son of Thomas Wi ...

were installed in 1852. In 1866, it was realised that the stonework of the church needed repairing. In 1873, new pews and a pulpit were installed. In 1879, a choir vestry was added.

Arthur Eaglefield Hull Arthur Eaglefield Hull (10 March 1876 – 4 November 1928) was an English music critic, writer, composer and organist.

was the organist from 1904 to 1920. In 1908 an organ was installed by local builder

Conacher and Co Conacher and Co was a firm of British Organ building, organ builders based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. History The firm originated with Peter Conacher (1823–1894), who was born in Scotland and who studied as an apprentice organ ...

; it was restored in 1984 by Philip Wood of Huddersfield. From 1921 to 1923, the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

was reordered. A

baldachin A baldachin, or baldaquin (from ), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent Architecture, architectural feature, particularly over Alta ...

and the east window, designed by

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect, one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishm ...

as part of a war memorial, were installed. In the 1940s, the south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

was redesigned with a screen by Robert Thompson being added. In the 1980s, a new

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

and

dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...

were installed. Around 2012, the roof, ceiling and tower were repaired. Other essential repairs were also made, helped by a grant 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 ...

. On 17 June 1965 the church was the wedding place of Olympic athletes, swimmer Anita Lonsbrough and track cyclist Hugh Porter. On 17 February 2017, the church was the location of the funeral of Gorden Kaye, the Huddersfield-born television actor and star of ''

'Allo 'Allo! ''Allo 'Allo!'' is a British sitcom television series, created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, starring Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Guy Siner and Richard Gibson. Originally broadcast on BBC1, the series focuses on the life of a Frenc ...

''.

Parish

On weekdays, the church is open from 9:00am until 4:00pm and on Saturdays from 10:00am to 2:00pm. There is a short service of daily prayer said on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 12:35pm. Midweek Holy Communion is celebrated on Wednesdays at 12:35 in the side chapel. On Sundays, there is a

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

communion service at 8:30am, and a Sung Eucharist at 10:00am. Choral Evensong is held every second Sunday at 6:30pm during term time. Every fourth Sunday at 6.30pm there is alternately 'Holy Ground' which takes the form of a more informal and contemplative service or 'Rainbow Eucharist', a service designed to explicitly affirm and uphold the LGBTQIA+ community, as part of the Inclusive Church network. The 10am Sung Eucharist, Choral Evensong, Rainbow Eucharist, and some special services are also livestreamed on the Parish Church YouTube channelHuddersfield - St Peter
from A Church Near You, retrieved 7 March 2015

Gallery

File:Huddersfield Parish Church 009.jpg, The church in 1904 File:Huddersfield Parish Church 007.jpg, Interior in 1906

References

External links

Huddersfield Parish site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huddersfield, Saint Peters Church Saint Peters Church Grade II* listed churches in West Yorkshire Church of England church buildings in West Yorkshire Churches completed in 1836 19th-century Church of England church buildings Anglican Diocese of Leeds Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in West Yorkshire Anglo-Catholic church buildings in West Yorkshire

History

Parish

Gallery

See also

References

External links