ST PETER & ST LEONARD

Northgate, Horbury, Wakefield, WF4 6AS

Contact: Mrs Mavis Walsh, Churchwarden Tel: 01924 271710

Email: mavis@john-walsh.co.uk

The Church of St. Peter and St. Leonard is a Grade I listed building standing in the conservation area of the oldest part of the township of Horbury.  It was built by the architect John Carr on the site of a Norman church dedicated to St. Leonard

John Carr was born in Horbury on the 15^th May, 1723, the son of Robert Carr, a Stonemason and his wife, Rosa.  John followed his father into this business, becoming a stonemason and architect. He moved to York, setting up practice there, became highly regarded in his profession and was twice Lord Mayor of the city.

The church of St. Peter and St. Leonard was built at John Carr’s expense, for the sum of £8,000, as a gift to the town of his birth.  The building was completed in 1794 and the first sermon was preached on the 18^th May from Psalm 132 v.15 “This shall be my rest forever, here will I dwell, for I have a delight thereon”.  The preacher was the Rev. John Taylor, then Curate of Horbury.  John Carr died on 22^nd February, 1807 and is buried, at his request, in the crypt:  the church forms a memorial to him.  A portrait of Carr by Sir William Beechey, hanging in the National Portrait Gallery, shows the spire of St. Peter’s in the background.

The church is built of damstone, from the same source as Sandal Castle, in the classical style having a central portico with the four Ionic columns, its pediment displaying and announcing the Carr gift and the personal pride of a native son of the town.

“Hanc aedem sacram: pietatis in deum et amoris: in solum natale monumentum: propriis sumptibus extruxit Johannes Carr Architectus: anno christi MDCCXCI.”

Gloria Deo in Excelcis

The tower is in four diminishing stages, elegant in appearance, with its rotunda of columns and conical spire.  In 1899 the tower became unsafe and had to be rebuilt.  During the rebuilding a new clock was installed with Westminster chimes, two more bells were added to the original ring of six and two more clock dials.

The interior of the church, with its ornate Georgian Plasterwork ceiling, has recently been repaired and redecorated.

In the chancel are two stone mural monuments; the first is on the north wall and is to John Carr’s father, Robert and also Rosa, his mother, the second is on the south wall and is to John Carr himself.

Stained glass windows in the chancel were added in 1850 and are dedicated to the connected families of Bayldon and Scholefield.  In 1927 the present altar rails and paving were added.  The cross and candlesticks were designed by Laurence King, architect.  A brass engraving of the Norman church, based on a pen and ink sketch made at the time of its demolition, is fitted into the floor of the chancel.

The pulpit is an early twentieth century addition, donated in memory of Richard and Martha Poppleton in 1917, and executed in an earlier style.

Over the north door of the church is a funeral hatchment bearing the Carr coat of arms and commemorating John Carr, attorney of Carr Lodge, nephew of the architect.

To the east of the north door is a window showing the Annunciation, commemorating Mary Ann Parker, 1888, daughter of John Francis Carr, it displays the heraldry of the associated families. The Parker family still flourishes at Browsholme Hall, located within the former West Riding, now part of Lancashire.  To the west of the door is a window showing St. Andrew with his saltire, commemorating John and Elizabeth Carswell Reid, 1826.

Canon John Sharp was Vicar of St. Peters from 1834 to 1899 and brought with him the ideas and thinking of the Oxford Movement - his influence is still apparent today.  He was a man of vision and under his guidance the daughter churches of St. John at Horbury Bridge and St. Mary at Horbury Junction were built, together with St. Peter's Convent.  A fine early twentieth century brass of John Sharp, who died in 1903, shows him kneeling in Eucharistic vestments.  A new vestry was added to the church in 1884 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the institution of John Sharp to the parish.

The later side chapel is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. George and contains the War Memorial to those who fell in the Great War of 1914-1919.  A window showing St. George is to the memory of Wilfred Hampshire who was killed in the First World War on  9^th May 1917. A further window on this side shows St. Leonard and is in memory of George Vint, also slain in the Great War on the 8^th December 1916, the window was installed in 1922. To the right of the south door is a further window showing St. Peter and commemorates Horbury School Boys killed in the Great War.

In 1864 the Rev. Sabine Baring Gould came to Horbury as a curate under the care of Canon John Sharp.  During his time at Horbury he wrote the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ for the children of Horbury Bridge to sing as they marched up the hill to St. Peter’s in the annual  Whitsunday procession.  For more information about Baring Gould look at the history of The Church of St. John the Divine, Horbury Bridge.

Download Guide Here

EVENTS