Church Of St Mary And Presbytery

The Church of St Mary and Presbytery is a Roman Catholic church built between 1874 and 1876, designed by architect Edward Simpson. This large, towerless Gothic church is constructed of sandstone "brick" with ashlar dressings and features simplified Early English details. It has low, shallow buttressed aisles and a tall clerestory, which is the dominant feature of the design, highlighted by massive solid buttresses that rise slightly curved from the aisle roofs, dividing the clerestory lights in pairs. The church has a lofty slate roof that extends over the apsidal chancel. A gabled Lady Chapel projects towards the street, and a three-storey gabled presbytery is attached to the east end. Although a tower was originally planned, it was never built.

Inside, the clerestory height and chancel arch create a strong vertical emphasis, enhanced by the lightness of the scissor-braced roof trusses. The nave piers are adorned with shafts of Irish marble, and the sanctuary features a gilded reredos. Statues of saints on corbelled angel brackets at the spring of the nave arcades are topped with crocketed canopies. Most of the glass is plain, except in the chancel. St Mary's was established as the Roman Catholic Mother Church of Bradford, largely due to the efforts of Canon John Motler, who served as parish priest from 1865 to 1881. Much of the construction work was carried out by parishioners themselves.