Saltaire United Reformed Church

Last updated

Saltaire United Reformed Church
Saltaire United Reformed Church - geograph.org.uk - 927328.jpg
The western frontage of the church
Location Saltaire, West Yorkshire
Coordinates 53°50′20″N1°47′27″W / 53.83889°N 1.79083°W / 53.83889; -1.79083
OS grid reference SE 138 381
Built1858–1859
Architect Lockwood and Mawson
Architectural style(s) Italianate Classical
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated22 November 1966
Reference no.1314229
West Yorkshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within West Yorkshire

Saltaire United Reformed Church (originally Saltaire Congregational Church) is a church at Saltaire, West Yorkshire, England. Commissioned and paid for by Titus Salt in the mid 19th century, the church is a Grade I listed building and sits within the Saltaire World Heritage Site.

Contents

History

When Titus Salt, a devoted member of the Congregational church, [1] commenced the design and construction of his model village at Saltaire, a Congregational church was the first public building commissioned. [2] Salt donated the land and paid for the cost of the church himself, a cost of £16,000 (equivalent to £1,713,080in 2021). [3]

The church was designed, as was the rest of Saltaire, by the Bradford-based architect partnership of Lockwood and Mawson in the Italianate Classical style. [4] Local firms were used for the works. The firm of John Ives did the woodwork and carvings while Moulton Brothers undertook the masonry work. [5]

Since 1972 the church has been known as Saltaire United Reformed Church following the merger of Congregational Church in England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England. [6]

The ceiling of the church was badly damaged and partially collapsed due to being affected by Storm Dennis in February 2020. [7] In April 2021 the architects employed by the church reported that a contract for repairs to the plasterwork would be awarded by the insurers while grant aid for other building works and improved security was being sought. [8] [9]

Description

Interior view of the church (May 2018) Congregational Church - Saltaire - Inside.jpg
Interior view of the church (May 2018)

The foundation stone of the church was laid by Caroline Salt (wife of Titus) in 1856 and opened in 1859. Built from local stone with an ashlar finish. The nave has no aisle and on the western end has a semi-circular portico. The portico is topped by a round tower with a clock at each quarter and above that an octagonal array of columns with a dome. [4] The main part of the church is roofed with Welsh slate and has large plain windows. [4] The organ was an 1890 addition and was built by Huddersfield firm Conacher and Co and subsequently rebuilt twice. [10] A pair of large chandeliers, originally gas lit, hang on the centre line of the nave ceiling. On the south side of the nave is the Salt family mausoleum where Sir Titus Salt was buried in 1877. [1] [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titus Salt</span> English industrialist and politician (1803–1876)

Sir Titus Salt, 1st Baronet was a manufacturer, politician and philanthropist in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, who is best known for having built Salt's Mill, a large textile mill, together with the attached village of Saltaire, West Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saltaire</span> Village in West Yorkshire, England

Saltaire is a Victorian model village in Shipley, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the River Aire, the railway, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Salt's Mill and the houses were built by Titus Salt between 1851 and 1871 to allow his workers to live in better conditions than the slums of Bradford. The mill ceased production in 1986, and was converted into a multifunctional location with an art gallery, restaurants, and the headquarters of a technology company. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shipley, West Yorkshire</span> Town and civil parish in West Yorkshire, England

Shipley is a historic market town and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford. The population of the Shipley ward on Bradford City Council taken at the 2011 Census was 15,483.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baildon</span> Town and civil parish in West Yorkshire, England

Baildon is a town and civil parish in the Bradford Metropolitan Borough in West Yorkshire, England and within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salts Mill</span>

Salts Mill is a former textile mill, now an art gallery, shopping centre, and restaurant complex in Saltaire, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It was built by Sir Titus Salt in 1853, and the present-day 1853 Gallery takes its name from the date of the building which houses it. The mill has many paintings by the local artist David Hockney on display and also provides offices for Pace plc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lightcliffe</span> Village in West Yorkshire, England

Lightcliffe is a village in the Calderdale district in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated approximately three miles east of Halifax and two miles north west of Brighouse. Lightcliffe was a separate parish in 1846 in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Francis Lockwood</span> English architect (1811–1878)

Henry Francis Lockwood was an influential English architect active in the North of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Leonards-on-Sea Congregational Church</span> Church in East Sussex, United Kingdom

St Leonards-on-Sea Congregational Church is a former Congregational church in St Leonards-on-Sea, part of the town and borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. Considered "one of the most ambitious Nonconformist buildings in Sussex", the sandstone building of 1863 forms a significant landmark on one of the Victorian resort's main roads—despite the loss of its copper spire in the Great Storm of 1987. Unlike most churches of its denomination, it did not join the United Reformed Church when that denomination was formed in 1972. It fell out of religious use in 2008 and had stood empty and was at risk of demolition. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance. Bought by a new owner in 2012 it was almost completely renovated, but was then sold again in 2019. The new owner plans to open the church to the public as an arts and antiques centre with a cafe in the tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberts Park, Saltaire</span>

Roberts Park is a 14 acres (5.7 ha) public urban park in Saltaire, West Yorkshire, England. Higher Coach Road, Baildon, is to the north and the park is bounded to the south by the River Aire. A pedestrian footbridge crosses the Aire and links the park to the village of Saltaire. The park is an integral part of the Saltaire World Heritage site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grade I listed churches in West Yorkshire</span>

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. Created as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, it consists of five metropolitan boroughs, namely the City of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, the City of Leeds and the City of Wakefield. Its area corresponds approximately with the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, and it contains the major towns of Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, and Wakefield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Hall, Saltaire</span>

Victoria Hall, Saltaire is a Grade II* listed building in the village of Saltaire, near Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, built by architects Lockwood and Mawson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Mawson</span> English architect

William Mawson was an English architect best known for his work in and around Bradford.

Benjamin Burstall was a sculptor, architectural sculptor and stone carver, based in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Headingley Hill Congregational Church</span> Church building in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Headingley Hill Congregational Church is a redundant Unitarian church at the corner of Headingley Lane and Cumberland Road, in the Headingley area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The church, which is a Grade II listed building, was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Cuthbert Brodrick and completed in 1866. It was the only church to have been designed by Brodrick, who is noted for Leeds Town Hall and the Corn Exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albemarle Baptist Church, Scarborough</span> Baptist church in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England

Albemarle Baptist Church is a Grade II listed church located on Albemarle Crescent, central Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style by the Bradford architect Henry Francis Lockwood, and opened in 1867.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weybridge United Reformed Church</span> Church in Surrey , United Kingdom

The Weybridge United Reformed Church situate at Queen's Road, Weybridge, near to its junction with York Road, is a Victorian Grade II Listed church building that is now no longer used as a place of worship.

Saltaire is a model village in Shipley, a ward in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The village contains 93 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, four are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. In 1850 Titus Salt started to build a textile mill, known as Salt's Mill, alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and then developed the model village to house and serve its workers. This included housing, shops, and community buildings, all of which are listed. The architects for the entire scheme, including later mills, were the Bradford architects Lockwood and Mawson. All the listed buildings built between 1850 and 1870 were designed by them. The later listed buildings are a tram shed, a war memorial and a telephone kiosk.

Shipley is a ward in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Excluding the listed buildings in the model village of Saltaire, which are the subject of a separate list, it contains 14 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is at Grade II*, the middle of the three grades, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The listed buildings consist of a farmhouse and a barn, houses, churches and associated structures, a canal bridge and a warehouse, mill buildings, including a chimney, and a war memorial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milner Field</span> Demolished country house in West Yorkshire, England

Milner Field was a large country house near Saltaire in West Yorkshire, England built in 1872 for Titus Salt Junior, youngest son of the Yorkshire wool merchant and philanthropist Sir Titus Salt and demolished in the 1950s. The house was situated at the edge of the village of Gilstead, near Bingley, overlooking the Aire Valley in the direction of Salt senior's model village of Saltaire and Salts Mill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christchurch, Ilkley</span> Church in North Yorkshire, England

Christchurch, Ilkley is a Grade II listed United Reformed and Methodist ecumenical partnership church in Ilkley, North Yorkshire, England.

References

  1. 1 2 James, David. "Salt, Sir Titus, first baronet (1803–1876)" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 July 2015.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ↑ Husselbee, Lesley & Ballard, Paul (2012). Free Churches and Society: The Nonconformist Contribution to Social Welfare 1800-2010. Bloomsbury Press. p. 91. ISBN   978-14411-7905-0.
  3. ↑ Baines, Edward (1970) [1875]. Ponting, K.G. (ed.). Baines's account of the woollen manufacture of England. David & Charles. p. 131. ISBN   978-07153-4754-6.
  4. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Congregational Church (1314229)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Around Bradford". Bradford Observer. Vol. 42, no. 3, 872. 27 May 1875. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ↑ "United Reformed/ Congregational/ Presbyterian Churches". University of Sheffield. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Ceiling collapses in Saltaire's historic church". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  8. ↑ "Progress to date" (PDF). Repair Update. Arctic Associates. April 2021.
  9. ↑ Young, Chris (12 March 2021). "New security for Grade I listed church is approved". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  10. ↑ "Saltaire, World Heritage site in West Yorkshire". Yorkshire Life. 14 February 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  11. ↑ "Nomination of Saltaire village for inclusion in the World Heritage List" (PDF). www.bradford.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.