Church Of St Chad On The Knavesmire

The Church of St Chad on the Knavesmire is an Anglican church built in 1925-6, with additions in 1928 and completion in 1966. It was designed by Walter Brierley, of York, and later completed by Francis Johnson. The building is constructed of reinforced concrete with an orange-brown brick facing laid in English bond, featuring moulded brick decoration. The roof is a concrete vault covered in asphalt.

The plan consists of a north-west tower, a single cell combining the nave and chancel, passage side aisles, an east chapel, and a vestry added in 1928. The flat-roofed tower incorporates an entrance porch with panelled doors within a splayed segmental-arched doorway, sheltered by a dentilled hood mould. Above the doorway is a corbelled brick niche containing a statue of St Chad. The north and south elevations are characterized by full-height gabled buttresses defining the bays, terminating in a parapet with moulded brick copings that incorporate recessed panels of raised diaper pattern brickwork. Single-light lancet windows with leaded lights are set within blind recessed pointed arches, all beneath a continuous dentilled hood mould. A priest's doorway is located in the south-east corner entrance tower, with a 2-centred arch, plank door, and dentilled hood. The east end features a triple stepped lancet window under a dentilled hood mould, with a stepped wall head and moulded brick coping. A lower chapel east window has three lights with a 2-centred arched opening below a hood mould. The gabled west end has a buttressed central bay subdivided into five tiers of openings, four of which are glazed.

Inside, the south porch leads to a narthex, with concrete steps to a west gallery and two double doorways leading to the nave. North and south arcades are formed of tall 2-centred arches springing from rectangular piers. The east end has a triple-arched double screen with outer support piers, incorporating a piscina to the south and an aumbry to the north. A wider central arch frames a wooden reredos dated 1929. A hexagonal memorial pulpit from 1940 features carved linenfold panels. The organ gallery in the west end is lit by a three-tier, five-light window. The roof is supported by expressed concrete trusses rising from corbelled brick seatings. The chapel houses a carving of Christ in Glory set between lancets.

The church was originally planned as a memorial to the Reverend Canon G. Argles, Rector of St Clement’s Church, Clementhorpe, and replaced the South Bank Mission Chapel. It remained unfinished at the architect’s death. This early 20th-century church is noted for its innovative structural form and assured design, demonstrating Walter Brierley’s creative sensitivity to changing liturgical needs.