Former Church Of St Luke

919/37/899 DEEP LANE 29-SEP-78 MILNSBRIDGE (South side) FORMER CHURCH OF ST LUKE (Formerly listed as: MANCHESTER ROAD MILNSBRIDGE CHURCH OF ST LUKE) (Formerly listed as: DEEP LANE MILNSBRIDGE CHURCH OF ST LUKE)

II Parish church of 1845 by W. Wallen, redundant since 1982.

MATERIALS: Coursed and hammer-dressed sandstone with freestone dressings, slate roofs.

PLAN: Nave with lower apsidal chancel.

EXTERIOR: Neo-Norman style with a tall and wide nave designed to accommodate a 3-sided gallery. The nave is 5 bays and has windows in recessed surrounds with sill band, pilasters and pseudo-machicolations. Round-headed windows have colonnettes with scalloped capitals, and an impost band carried over the windows as hood moulds. The north doorway is in a projecting surround, with 2 orders of shafts to roll-moulded arches and chevrons to the label. Above the doorway are high-relief representations of Agnus Dei, crossed keys and a bishop's mitre. The west wall has a large modern 5-part window of c1965. The lower apse has recessed panels and windows similar to the nave.

INTERIOR: Not accessible at the time of survey (June 2009). It originally had a rib-vaulted chancel. Chancel and apse arches are said to be on semi-circular responds with scallop capitals. There were a number of memorials within, including one to James Armitage (d.1803), shot by hostile natives in the River Waikato, New Zealand.

SUBSIDARY FEATURES: The churchyard is entered through a Gothic gateway.

HISTORY: Parish church built in 1843-46 by William Wallen (1807-53), architect of Huddersfield. Wallen built several other churches in the locality, usually in a simple Gothic style. The neo-Norman style was therefore a departure for the architect although the interior with its galleries was more typical of his church work. Redundant since 1982, and used for storage in recent years.

SOURCES: Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire, West Riding (1959), 368. Report by Council for the Care of Churches (1981). Lambeth Palace Library, Incorporated Church Building Society archives (plan of 1843). National Monuments Record, photo survey at time of redundancy.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The former church of St Luke, Milnsbridge, is listed Grade II for the following principal reasons: * The church is built in the neo-Norman style that was fashionable in the 1840s, and retains its external character and detail. * It is prominently sited above Manchester Road and, as such, is typical of churches of the C19 in Huddersfield that were carefully exploited to occupy commanding positions.