Leeds Minster

The building

An early 7th-century church on this site was burned down in 633 AD. A church at Ledes is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The church was rebuilt twice, after a fire in the 14th century, and again in the 19th century. Walter Farquhar Hook, Vicar of Leeds from 1837 until preferment as Dean of Chichester in 1859 was responsible for the construction of the present building, and of the revitalisation of the Anglican church throughout Leeds as a whole. The architect was Robert Dennis Chantrell.

It was originally intended only to remodel the church in order to provide space for a larger congregation. In November 1837 a scheme was approved under which the tower would have been moved from the crossing to the north side, the chancel widened to the same breadth as the nave, and the north aisle roof raised. When work began, however, it was discovered that much of the structure was in a perilous condition, and it was decided to replace the church completely. The new building was the largest new church in England built since Sir Christopher Wren's St Paul's Cathedral erected after the Great Fire of London and consecrated in 1707. The new parish church was rebuilt by voluntary contributions from the townspeople at a cost of over £29,000 and consecrated on 2 September 1841. Florence Nightingale and Dr Edward Bouverie Pusey were among the congregation and Dr Samuel Sebastian Wesley played the organ.

The east end was altered between 1870 and 1880.

The parish church became Leeds Minster in a ceremony on Sunday 2 September 2012, on the 171st anniversary of the consecration of the building.

The parish

'The rambling parish of Leeds covered an area of 21,000 acres. It included in it the out-townships of Allerton, Armley, Beeston, Bramley, Farnley, Gipton, Headingley, Holbeck, Hunslet and Wortley; Adel and Whitkirk were separate parishes. On founding the Benedictine Priory of the Holy Trinity, York in 1089 Ralph Paynel granted it the right to appoint the priest and collect the tithes from the parish of Leeds. Over years, many out-townships established local chapels of ease to save parishioners the trek to the parish church: Bramley's, founded by monks at Kirkstall Abbey, may have been first, followed by Farnley's from about 1240, Beeston's from 1597, Headingley's from 1616, and Armley and Wortley's from 1649. In the town itself, the parish church was supplemented by St John's Church on New Briggate in 1634 and Holy Trinity Church on Boar Lane in 1727 (both of which remained in the Parish of Leeds). The nineteenth century saw a large number of new Commissioners' Churches build throughout the parish.

Following the English Reformation, the right to appoint the parish's priest passed between different owners until 1588, when a group of parishioners bought it, putting it in the hands of Leeds's people.

A proposal in 1650 to divide the parish came to nothing, but in 1826 St. Mark's Church in Woodhouse gained its own parish district and in 1829 St Stephen's Church in Kirkstall followed suit. However, in the 1840s two parliamentary acts provided for the creation of a wave of parishes: the Spiritual Care of Populous Parishes Act of 1843 and Walter Hook's the Leeds Vicarage Act of 1844. Under the former act were created the parishes of St. Andrew's (1845); St. Philip's (1847); Holy Trinity, Meanwood (1849); All Saints (1850); St. John's, Little Holbeck (1850); St. Matthew's, Little London (1851); St. Jude's, Hunslet (1853); St. John's, Wortley; St. Michael's, Buslingthorpe; St. Matthias's, Burley; St Barnabas, Little Holbeck (1854). Under the latter act were created the parishes of St John's Church, Briggate (1845); St. Saviour's (1846); St. Mary's, Hunslet (1847); and St. Michael's, Farnley (1851).

Architecture

Cruciform in plan, the minster is built in ashlar stone with slate roofs, in an imitation of the English Gothic style of the late 14th century, a period of transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular. The church is 180 feet (55 m) long and 86 feet (26 m) wide, its tower rising to 139 feet (42 m). The chancel and nave each have four bays of equal length with clerestories and tall aisles. The tower is situated at the centre of north aisle. Below the tower on the north side is the main entrance. The tower has four unequal stages with panelled sides and corner buttresses terminating in crocketed turrets with openwork battlements and crocketted pinnacles. The clock was made by Potts of Leeds.

Furnishings, fittings, glass and treasures

The windows exhibit Perpendicular tracery and there is a five-light east window from 1846 containing glass collected on the continent. At the east end the sanctuary has a marble arcade with mosaics by Salviati of Venice, and the reredos is made of coloured marble and alabaster by George Edmund Street.

A peal of 13 bells was cast by Mears in 1842. These bells were then recast into the current peal by John Taylor of Loughborough in 1932. The tenor bell weighs 40 long cwt 1 qr 27 lb (4,535 lb or 2,057 kg).

The organ, parts of which date from 1841 and earlier, is essentially a Harrison and Harrison of 1914 vintage, but incorporating significant amounts of pipework by Edmund Schulze. It was restored in 1927 and 1949 by Harrison and Harrison; in 1965 by Wood, Wordsworth and in 1997 by Andrew Carter. The restoration of the blowing plant and refurbishment of the blower house were undertaken in 1997 by Allfab Engineering of Methley.

Among many artefacts and memorials in the Minster are an Anglian cross to the south of the marble pavement known as the altar flat and a brass commemorating Captain Oates of Scott's Antarctic expedition, who had Leeds connections. Flemish stained glass enhances the apse of Chantrell's interior – he designed the windows to fit the glass – and of more recent date (1997) is Sally Scott's Angel Screen at the north tower porch entrance, an example of contemporary glass engraving and a gift from the family of Lord Marshall of Leeds.

Outside in the churchyard, facing out onto Kirkgate, is the Leeds Rifles War Memorial, which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled on 13 November 1921. It is separately a grade II listed building.

Minster

The Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds is in the Diocese of Leeds (which has its cathedrals at Ripon, Wakefield and Bradford), in the Parish of Leeds City along with the Georgian Church of Holy Trinity, Boar Lane and the congregation of St Mary's Lincoln Green worshipping weekly in the Hall of St Peter's Church of England Primary School, Cromwell Street, Burmantofts. The minster is at the easternmost extremity of the city centre, within a precinct bordering two of the city's oldest thoroughfares - Kirkgate (now part of the Inner City Loop Road) to the north, and The Calls to the south. Another ancient pathway, High Court Ings, connects the western precinct with High Court.

The Reverend Canon Sam Corley is the Priest-in-Charge and Rector-Designate of Leeds Minster, he was licensed at Leeds Minster on 6 October 2015

Work with young people undertaken by the parish includes The Market Place drop-in centre.

During choir terms there are at least seven choral services each week, four sung by the boy choristers with the choral scholars and lay Clerks; the remainder sung by the boys, the men or by the girl choristers. Once each term, the boys, girls and men sing together. At present the boys and girls front lines are suspended until September 2016.

Leeds Minster is a member of the Greater Churches Group. Its mission and vision for future service to the city, the diocese and the Church of England are a constant care and concern of those who seek to serve the church and parish. Sir John Betjeman in a BBC Broadcast remarked that: "There's High Church, Low Church and Leeds Parish Church".

The church is illuminated at night by floodlights donated by Tetley's brewery.

The building is open to visitors for at least seven hours each day. Parishioner volunteers serve refreshments and light meals in the refectory in the City of Leeds Room constructed in the north-west aisle in 1975.

The minster archives are held at the Leeds office of West Yorkshire Archive Service. The church has memorials to families who were prominent in the parish, including the Kitchingman, Fenton, Lodge, Milner, Cookson, and Ibbetsons.

Present

On 2 September 2012 Leeds Parish Church became a minster; it may be designated the pro-cathedral of the new Diocese of Leeds if the diocesan bishop so decides.

Vicars of Leeds from 1220 and Rectors of Leeds from 1991

This list is incomplete

Rectors of Leeds from 1991

Music

Leeds Minster is the only parochial foundation in England without a resident choir school to have a programme of weekday choral services additional to Sunday liturgies.

Organists from 1842 include Samuel Sebastian Wesley 1842–1849, Dr Edward Bairstow 1906–1913, Dr Alfred Melville Cook 1937–1956 and Dr Donald Hunt OBE 1957–1975. Organist and Master of the Music 1975-2016, the ninth musical incumbent since Wesley's day, was, until September 2016, Dr Simon Lindley who came to Leeds after service at St Albans Cathedral and churches in the City of London; Lindley remains the organist at Leeds Town Hall. The sub-organist and director of the girls' choir is David Houlder, formerly of Liverpool Cathedral and for a long period director of music at the Bluecoat School. It was announced in August that Paul Dewhurst, Organist of Pontefract Parish Church (St Giles) is to be Director of Music at Leeds Minster from November 2016. His first service will be on Sunday 13 November 2016 at 5.30 pm.

In Autumn 2009, Ashley Francis Roy began work as animateur for Chorister Outreach in two primary schools near the minster; the post was supported by the Church Urban Fund. Boy choristers attend church each weekday except Thursday, Friday evenings, Saturday mornings and twice on Sundays. Boy choristers attend St Peter's C of E Primary School in Burmantofts, Abbey Grange Church of England Academy, Cardinal Heenan Roman Catholic High School, Brudenell Primary School and Ralph Thoresby School. This work was continued by Helen Strange, an undergraduate student of the University of Leeds who also served as leader of the minster girls' choir and now teaches in Bishops Stortford. A recent former Boy Chorister, Choral Scholar and Organ Scholar, Toby Ward (holder of a music scholarship at Fulneck School, left Leeds for a Gap Year Choral Scholarship at Gloucester Cathedral,later holding a Choral Scholarship at King's College, Cambridge and, from 2016, is a member of the music staff at Uppingham School.

The adult choir consists of lay clerks (including former boy choristers), choral scholars (undergraduates from the University of Leeds and Leeds College of Music) and supernumerary singers - altos, tenors and basses. During term time, Evensong is sung by the full choir on Wednesday and Friday evenings, by the boys on Monday and the men on Thursday. A semi-professional adult chamber choir, Saint Peter's Singers of Leeds was founded in 1977 and meets for rehearsals on Sunday evening during term time and present regular concerts and sing at choral services each season including at the end of each summer term, a memorial evensong for John Barrie Hanson - a member of the singers and choir.

The minster choir has been associated with the Royal School of Church Music since the early 1930s through links with Sir Sydney Nicholson, RSCM founder and churchwarden, Herbert Bacon Smith. Simon Lindley is one of the RSCM's longest serving special commissioners and has directed RSCM courses on four continents. The girls' choir formed in 1997 by Jonathan Lilley, meet weekly on Saturdays (regularly singing for Morning Worship) and participate in events involving the full choral foundation on special occasions.

Organ concerts

Friday lunchtime organ recitals are held weekly between September and July featuring David Houlder and Dr Christopher Newton. Sunday evening concerts have taken place weekly in August since the restoration of the instrument was completed.

Organists

Samuel Sebastian Wesley 200th Anniversary Celebrations

The 200th anniversary celebrations for Samuel Sebastian Wesley, born 14 August 1810, began with Festal Evensong on Sunday 4 July 2010 followed by a Gala Choral Recital. Worship on Sunday 15 August was broadcast on BBC Radio Four. Dr Lindley gave a commemorative recital of Wesley's organ music in the evening and a commemorative recital of music by Wesley at Leeds Town Hall on 13 September.

Rugby league

A rugby league team from Leeds Parish Church joined the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League) in 1896. Leeds Parish Church played for five seasons from 1896–97 to 1900–01 after which it withdrew.