The former Providence Place United Reformed Church, also known as Providence Place Congregational Church, is a Victorian church building in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, England, completed in 1859 to Classical designs by Lockwood and Mawson. It is now used as a wedding venue, having previously been used as an Indian restaurant. The building is Grade II* listed.
Dissenting services were held in Cleckheaton as early as the 1660s.[1] A Presbyterian chapel was built in Scott Yard in the first decade of the 18th century.[1] Its services became Congregational in the 1770s.[1] The current building was constructed alongside this, from 1857 to 1859, and enlarged in 1886.[1] It could accommodate up to 3,000 people.[2] A Sunday school was held in the basement.[1]
The church closed in 1991; its congregation joined Grove United Reformed Church at Gomersal[1] and the church's war memorial, commemorating the fallen of World War I, was relocated there.[3]
The church's records are held by the West Yorkshire Archive Service[a].[1]
Architecture
The church was designed by Bradford architects Henry Francis Lockwood and William Mawson in Classical style. It is built in stone with a roof of blue slate, it has two storeys and a basement, a five-bay front, and nine bays along the sides. On the front is a portico consisting of vermiculatedquoins, a modillionedpediment, six giant unflutedCorinthian columns on a podium, arches with archivolts, and decorated keystones. Above is a vermiculated frieze and consoles carrying the pediment. In the tympanum is an inscribed roundel surrounded by carved foliage. There are three round-arched doorway with vermiculated surrounds and voussoirs. The outer bays are also arched and contain pedestals, and in the upper storey are round-arched windows with pilasters and archivolts. On each side is a bracketed eavescornice and windows, square-headed in the basement and ground storey and round-arched above. In front of the church are five squat square gate piers, each with a cornice and a square cap, and ornamental cast iron gates.[4][5]
The building was Grade II* listed, the second-highest possible category, in April 1982, giving it legal protection from unauthorised alteration or demolition.[5] The gate piers and gates were included in the designation.[5]
Other uses
After it ceased to be used as a church, the building was included by English Heritage on their Buildings at Risk Register.[2] It was restored and converted for use as restaurant in 2000-2001,[1] and housed an Indian restaurant, "Aakash" (meaning "sky" in Urdu).[6][2] Seating 800, this was said to be one of the largest in the UK.[2][6] That closed in November 2022 after the building and its adjacent car park were sold at auction in the previous month.[2] As of 2025, it is a wedding venue, "The Monal".[6]
Incident
Pediment, seen in 2016
On 6 September 2025, part of the building collapsed onto the street below. No-one was injured. Pictures on news sites showed rubble in the road, and part of the pediment missing.[6]
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