kids encyclopedia robot

All Souls' Church, Blackman Lane facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
All Souls Church
All Souls Blackman Lane 2010.jpg
Location Leeds, West Yorkshire
Country England
Denomination Church of England
Churchmanship Liberal Catholic
History
Dedication All Souls
Architecture
Architect(s) Sir George Gilbert Scott
Administration
Parish Leeds All Souls
Deanery Allerton
Archdeaconry Leeds
Episcopal area Leeds
Diocese Leeds
Province York

All Souls' Church, Blackman Lane, in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England is a large Victorian Church of England parish church. Worship at All Souls is in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church of England.

History

All Souls' Church was built by public subscription in one of the poorest districts of Leeds, the Leylands, as a memorial to Dr W. F. Hook, Vicar of Leeds for some 22 years and later Dean of Chichester. The design is simple and impressive in scale: 134 ft in length with aisles both to the nave and chancel, a southwest porch and a baptistery under the northwest tower.

It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, "to stem the tide of spiritual destitution" in the area, and is the last church he designed before his death in 1878: his son, John Oldrid Scott, took over the supervision of the building. The foundation stone was laid in September 1876; the church was consecrated on 29 January 1880. Southowram stone with Meanwood dressings was used for the exterior, Harehills stone for the interior. The column supports for the nave arcades are of Park Spring stone. The interior walls are of ashlar stonework.

Between 1968 and 1974 Tennant Hall, formerly the church's Sunday Schools, was used as the BBC Leeds TV studios, primarily for the nightly local news programme Look North. In 1974 the BBC moved to new, purpose-built studios nearby at Broadcasting House, Woodhouse Lane.

The ornate wooden font cover was donated by the artist Emily Ford in thanksgiving for her own baptism as an adult. She decorated the cover with biblical scenes in which the characters have the faces of her friends and fellow campaigners. The West Yorkshire branch of the Victorian Society raised £6,000 in 2013 to enable Ford's eight painted panels to be cleaned and restored by David Everingham.

The great rood cross carved in lime wood hanging above the choir shows “Christ Triumphant on the Cross" by John Francis Kavanagh and was a memorial to Cecil, Walter Hook's son, the first priest of All Souls'.

From 1 October 2011 the parishes of All Souls, and St Aidan's, Harehills were joined to create the team parish of Leeds All Souls and St Aidan.

Organ

The organ was built in 1877 by Abbott and Smith, and restored in 1906 and 1938 by the same builder. It was restored by Wood Wordsworth and Co in 1976, and by John T Jackson in 1997. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

The ornate organ case was carved by A. Crawford Hick.

Organists

  • Frederick William Hird (1826–1887)
  • John Pew Bowling (1851–1886): resigned as organist a short time before his death on 10 July 1886.
  • Hugh Mulleneux Lawrence: organist 1887–1896
  • Thomas James Hoggett: 1896–1901
  • Newell Smith Wallbank: ????–1911
  • Charles Legh Naylor: 1911–1917
  • Dr Richard Henry Hargrave (1875-1952)????–????
  • Keith Senior: 2008 - current


Services

Sunday services offer warm Anglo-Catholic liturgy, with full lay involvement and children's talk. The Debre Sibhat Medhanialem Ethiopian Orthodox Church meets on Sunday afternoons.

Sunday

  • 11.00 Sung Mass
  • 14:00 Ethiopian Service

Wednesday

  • 10.00 Mass

Images for kids

kids search engine
All Souls' Church, Blackman Lane Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.