Church Of St Stephen

The Church of St Stephen is a church built in 1863 by W. H. Crossland for Colonel Edward Akroyd. It is constructed of dressed stone with a slate roof. The church comprises a nave, chancel, aisles, a south porch, and a transeptal chapel. The west front has heavy, offset buttresses, and the nave has an extremely steep roof. A tall, four-light window in a free Early English style is situated on the west front, above which is a roundel with a high-relief figure of the patron saint. The aisles feature pierced trefoil parapets with bays separated by pinnacled buttresses; each bay contains three cinquefoil windows with hood moulds and decorative stops. The south porch, located in the western bay of the nave, has a pointed relieving arch and decorated segmental tympanum, topped with a gable containing a damaged figure in a niche. The north transept has two lancets, and a large quatrefoil window above. A tall chimney with a coupled stack rises from the wall. The chancel is roofed continuously with the nave, with a bellcote featuring paired openings marking the join. The chancel has a five-sided apse with tall lancets and colonnettes in each face. A small vestry with a cusped-headed priest’s door is situated on the south side, possessing decorative hood mould stops and extensive grotesque carving throughout.

Inside the church, the nave is wide and features a waggon roof with differing arcades. The south arcade has moulded arches carried on cylindrical piers, while the north arcade has unmoulded arches supported by clustered colonnettes on square bases; the capitals are carved throughout. The chancel arch is carried on corbelled marbled shafts. The chancel has a tunnel vaulted ceiling with moulded ribs forming a star over the apse; a foliated string runs beneath the windows, and there is much shafting present. A heavy arch leads to the North transept, which houses the organ. Above this is a two-bay arcade at clerestory level. Much of the lavish decorative scheme remains, including paintings of saints on the south wall of the chancel and stenciling on the lean-to ceilings of the aisles. Further features include a richly decorated pulpit with mosaic panels, a wrought iron chancel rail and gates, and a reredos with mosaic. There is also good stained glass in the west window and apse.