| In the Middle Ages, reasonable access to religious worship was the prerogative of the rich in a township like Leeds. So, not counting the private chapel of the local knobs, it was 1630 before a chapel was built in Armley, and 1674 before it was consecrated by the Archbishop of York. |
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This delay was due to the somewhat
chaotic times between Charles I and his son II.
The Chapel was a small building on one level, and we have been able to
make a reasonable guess as to its original layout using floor plans of the
developing Chapel dug out of the |
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| The floor plan would have been: |
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This shows an altar at the east end and a dominating pulpit that at some time in its early life became a three-decker. (From such a pulpit the lower deck was used for public announcements of jumble sales and hangings, etc., the middle level for readings from the Bible, and the top floor for the most important activity – preaching the Word.) |
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In 1737 drastic changes were made to the Chapel. It was extended out to the north, the roof was raised and a small balcony added at the west end. In noting this there is a suggestion that another smaller balcony had been built some time earlier. The roof raising was not particularly significant as a contemporary story handed down and recorded at the end of the 19th Century refers to children sat at the back writing and drawing on the ceiling. |
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| The pulpit still dominated, but the altar was beginning to take something of a back seat with these changes. This is the the first plan recorded, along with an exterior sketch and details of the 1737 extension, from which the first plan was devised. |
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By
the turn into the 19th Century, the old building was
becoming cramped, and the Gott family was very much in charge as far as
providing funds and initiating changes. Benjamin Gott (1762 - 1840), the local industrial pioneer,
had wool mills at various locations in |
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The Gott family travelled to St. Bartholomew’s in their own
coach from their manor, now a golf clubhouse.
This overlooks the Gott estate of Gott’s Park, with a view down the |
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Ground Floor
In 1825, the chapel received permission for the massive alterations that Gott had in mind, extending and enlarging the chapel, adding side aisles and balconies. In part this was inspired by a desire to improve the Gott family and staff pews, but mainly to accommodate the rapidly increasing population of Armley. |
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The chapel now looked as if the original ground plan of 1630 had been cloned and built on to the side, except for the fact that the altar remained hidden in the south-east corner, while the pulpit quite ingeniously remained the focus of attention. Even the balconies were built only along the north and west sides, as a south wall balcony would not be able to see the all-powerful pulpit. Balcony |
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As the Gott influence waned, all the private boxes were
replaced by pews, which did away with privilege and increased the capacity of
the chapel. This was done under the
guidance of ‘new governors’ in 1861.
Two things happened now; a new dynamic vicar was appointed
in 1866, and a year later a breakaway parish was formed in With a ground area nearly three times the extent of the old chapel, and a nave which soared half as high again as that of the neighbouring Christ Church, it is apparent that something other than the expanding local population was firing the imaginations of the manor dwellers, as they went on to produce the largest church in what is now the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds. Internal ornamentation and decoration further enhanced the grandeur that the hilltop exterior had already impressed on the mind. However, a minor aspect of the objectives seems to have slipped by, in that although the new church was four times bigger in volume than the chapel, it afforded an improvement in accommodation, compared to the old chapel, of minus 13! 963 down to 950! (This was to get worse, as when the organ was installed a couple of years later, another 75 seats were lost, and the transfer of the statues into the new church removed another 32. Ultimate accommodation was 120 less than the old chapel the new building replaced!) |
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Building of the new church started in 1872, and it was opened somewhat prematurely in 1877 in an unfinished state. Porches, boundary walls and gates, and the choir vestry were added shortly after as funds became available. Some contemporary financial wizard accepted the cheapest quote, when for £500 extra they would have got all the trimmings plus a tower. The congregation had to wait until 1903 for that to be added. |
| From the
Sequence
of Events it will be noted that as Eduard was tapping down the last tuning collar of the
nomadic Schulze Organ in Harrogate's St.Peter's, prior to its inaugural recital,
a gang of locals in Armley were barrowing the old organ across from the
redundant chapel to the new church alongside, ready for the service of
consecration. There must have been a sense of anticlimax as this tiny instrument
squeaked forth for the first time in the vast building, about as effective as a
harmonium in a quarry. So the stage was set for a spot of unpleasantness between
the two good maidens of Harrogate and their vicar; the appearance amongst the
small ads of the subsequent availability of the Schulze; the forthcoming
nuptials of an Armley cloth magnate's son - Henry William Eyres, who needed
something to impress a young bride; and his brand new local church with its
bonsai organ rattling in a vast space. Hence
the eager snapping up of the Schulze instrument.
St.Bartholomew's is big. 57 metres long by 18 metres wide,
with the main nave taking up 33 x 11 of this total area. Instead of being able
to touch the roof, as could be done at times in the old chapel, this one soars
some 34 metres into the air. All for £20,000 at 1872 prices. It was designed to
have a tower, but funds were drained once the basic structure was up and
running, and it wasn't until the turn of the century that a £3,000 appeal was
launched to add the icing to the cake (and really rub the neighbours at Built in local sandstone, the building is faced internally in Ancaster limestone - a stone which responded well to the steam cleaning of 1964, unlike the exterior. Here, only one porch was cleaned as a sample, the result proving to be virtually undetectable when compared to the rest of the building. Smooth pillars of Greenmoor stone separate the main and side aisles, leading the eye down to the 'love-it-or-leave-it' reredos at the east end - a Wedding cake structure on an alabaster base (matching the pulpit) topped off in Caen stone from Normandy. Mosaics and painted tiles abounded, but these were kept in check by a sudden drought of benefactors. This has thankfully left a respectable number of bare panels, rather than the overwhelming aspiration of fully decorated walls. Most woodwork, such as the choir stalls and screens, is carved in American walnut. The style throughout is Victorian mock-Gothic. |
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| Vandalism, both mindless and intentional has been much in evidence. By the end of the last century, many stained glass panels bore the evidence of stones and air rifles, and upkeep of the exterior porches and lower appendages was a constant battle. |
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Sadly, some desecration has occurred within, much of it
fortunately reversible. The long lines of the nave string courses encouraged the
introduction of strip lighting, which in turn allowed for the installation of
longitudinal gas radiation heating. Interior of the Church in the late 20th century
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Not replaceable was a low chancel wall removed on the whim of an incumbent who saw it as a barrier between congregation and officials. What this man might have done if he had ever been let loose in any of our ancient cathedrals does not bear thinking about! |
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From our standpoint here in the early 21st Century, the church appears to have been just ticking over in the latter half of the last, as the
great Restoration 2000 – 2004
burst out upon us. Meanwhile, with its hilltop position, the Church,
seemingly unchanged, stands out as a landmark in To follow the Restoration Story, click here |
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| Restoration and Renovation, St. Bartholomew's, Armley, 2002. by Mike and Thelma Collins £2.65 | |
