Church Of St Mark

The Church of St Mark is an Anglican church built between 1823 and 1826, with alterations made in 1873. Designed by Peter Atkinson Junior and RH Sharp, the tower alterations and window tracery were later reworked in 1873 by RL Adams and J Kelly. Constructed from coursed squared stone and ashlar, the church has a slate roof. It was built as a commissioners’ church in the Gothic Revival style.

The church has a three-stage west tower, a six-bay nave and chancel with side aisles. The west door of the tower is flanked by three-light windows on the second stage, and paired two-light belfry windows with Perpendicular tracery are situated above. Angle buttresses with gabled heads, surmounted by tall octagonal pinnacles, and an embattled parapet complete the tower. The west entrance to the south aisle has double board doors within a moulded arch. The aisles have Perpendicular traceried windows, buttresses between each topped with octagonal pinnacles, and a plain parapet with moulded coping. A five-light window illuminates the east end. The pinnacles are stored inside the church.

Inside, the nave and chancel form a continuous space, with a step up to the choir and two steps to the sanctuary. Aisle areas feature a vestry and organ at the east end of the north aisle, and a side chapel at the east end of the south aisle. The floors are a mix of plain and polychrome tiles. The interior incorporates quatrefoil columns and a moulded rib vault decorated with bosses. Cast-iron columns support a gallery added, likely in 1873, at the west end. A carved stone reredos features a blind arcade of seven crocketed arches, with the central three framing the altar recess. A fine carved oak organ case, commemorating Joseph Ogdin March of Beech Grove House, Leeds, in 1889, depicts angels blowing trumpets. A short marble pulpit with traceried panels and an octagonal form is a memorial to the ministry of Revd JS Abbott in 1891. The font is made of painted stone, with an octagonal shape and figures of angels holding shields, quatrefoil panels, Christian symbols, and a carved inscription around the bowl, recording the donation by Charles Gascoigne Maclea in 1853. A wide crocketed arch on the north wall of the nave commemorates William Schofield, who died in 1857, and his aunt and uncle, John and Hannah Coultate, and John's sister Alice, who all died between 1860 and 1864. St Mark’s was one of three Commissioner churches erected in densely populated areas of Leeds; the other two have been demolished. The church retains stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops visible.