Description

LEEDS

SE33SW STONEY ROCK LANE, Sheepscar
714-1/11/1113 (North West side)
05/08/76 Church of St Agnes

II

Anglican church. 1886-7. By Kelly and Birchall of Leeds, with
alterations and additions by Lord Grimthorpe. Coursed stone,
ashlar dressings. Gothic Revival style.
PLAN: nave and chancel under one steeply-pitched roof with
gable ends. Orientations are ritual.
EXTERIOR: low aisles with flat-headed windows with cusped
heads to lights and 2-light clerestory windows, circular
chancel clerestory window with foundation stone below laid by
Mrs Boyd Carpenter, wife of the Bishop of Ripon, 9 July 1887.
Large 5-light east window with geometric tracery, 4-light west
window. Very slim SE bell tower with buttresses up to belfry
with lancets, octagonal stage above with short stone spire.
Gabled SW porch in stone with cusped pointed arch.
INTERIOR: 4-bay nave with squat octagonal piers and wide
chamfered arches, rafter roof with twisted tie bars, aisles
have cusped roof trusses supported on stone corbels; no arch
to 1-bay chancel with panelled barrel-vaulted ceiling; organ
on NE, vestry on SE.
Reredos made 1891 of Burmantofts faience and coloured tiles, 3
cusped arches in moulded frame with angels' heads and
pinnacles, original colours and details obscured by coat of
white gloss paint. A terracotta memorial below W window in the
same style commemorates James Holroyd, 1839-1890, founder of
the Burmantofts Faience Works, erected 'BY HIS EMPLOYEES';
tiled walls below moulded string on each side.
FITTINGS: moulded bench pews, the front row with pierced
fronts; pulpit removed; font in SW corner given by the Sunday
School scholars, octagonal stem and bowl of green and brown
polished fossiliferous marble; brass eagle lectern given by
the Whalley family, 1918 and 1931. War memorial at E end of S
nave aisle from St Stephen's church.
STAINED GLASS: the west window stained glass is from the
Church of St Stephen (demolished), 1851, and has early
medieval-style figures. The east window is dedicated to the
memory of Willard Stansfield, the first vicar, 1889-1927.
HISTORICAL NOTE: a mission church was built in Shakespeare
Street in 1877 to serve the increasing population in the
parish of St Stephen. By 1881 the population was about 4,000,
many working for the James Holroyd's Leeds Fireclay Company at
the Burmantofts Works. In 1885 the Rev Willard Stansfield

described the population as: '..entirely of the artisan class.
We can boast of no palatial edifices or detached villas... the
area of our district is by no means large, yet we have within
our boundary, on the SW the Fever Hospital, on the NW the
Leeds Cemetery, on the NE the Smallpox Hospital, and on the
SE... hideous chimneys which belch forth over the place dense
and sometimes choking filthy smoke, while as a tower for the
whole we have on the north the Acme of Nuisance, better known
as the Public Destructor' (speech quoted in the Centenary
Booklet). Land was bought for the new church in 1886 and in
1887 Lord Grimthorpe suggested alterations and additions to
the plans; he gave »500 towards the cost. During 1888 »20
towards the cost of the font was raised in pennies and
halfpennies by the Sunday School scholars.
(Burmantofts History Group: Centenary of St Agnes' Church
Burmantofts, 1889-1989: 1989-).

Listing NGR: SE3187234397

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 30 October 2017.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St. Agnes' Church, Burmantofts at Wikipedia
• St. Agnes' Church, Burmantofts official website
• Wikidata Q24705041

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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