Church Of St Wilfrid

The Church of St Wilfrid is a church building founded in 1154, with significant alterations and additions spanning the 14th, 15th, 18th, and 19th centuries. It is located in Pudsey, West Yorkshire.

The church’s west tower dates from the 14th century, the upper stage of the tower and the clerestory were added in the 15th century, the aisles in around 1844, and the chancel, vestry, and porch between 1868 and 1870. Most of the tracery windows were restored in the 19th century. The church is constructed primarily of dressed stone (to the tower and clerestory) and hammer-dressed stone (to the aisles and chancel), with stone slate roofs.

The church comprises a west tower, an aisled nave with a south porch, and a chancel with a north chapel and vestry. The two-stage west tower features a plinth, angle buttresses, and a stair tower, containing three lancet windows. A doorway with an ogee lintel is set into the base of the stair tower, and there is a three-light cusped window on the west face. Above this is a two-light arched window, the south side of which is blocked by an octagonal clock face. A cyma-moulded band separates the tower stages; the top stage has three-light belfry openings with panel tracery, a Lombard frieze, and an embattled parapet topped with crocketed pinnacles. The nave has four bays. Lean-to aisles have offset diagonal buttresses. The porch in the first bay has a pointed-arched doorway with octagonal columns with moulded capitals, diagonal buttresses, and a crow-stepped gable surmounted by a cross. A ribbed vaulted roof covers the interior of the porch, and the inner doorway is segmental-pointed with chamfered surrounds and cushion-moulded imposts. The second bay of the nave has a three-light window with cusped ogee-headed mullions, while the third and fourth bays, and all other windows, have two lights. The clerestory has traceried two-light windows set in square-headed double-chamfered surrounds. Aisle and nave gables are coped and have a cross at the apex. An octagonal chimney is located at the rear, at the junction with the chancel. The lower chancel has four bays, with an arched doorway in the third bay. The other bays have two-light windows with curvilinear traceried heads set in square-headed double-chamfered surrounds, with an offset buttress between the first and second window. An elaborate five-light east window with curvilinear tracery is flanked by offset buttresses, with a small gabled vestry attached to the northernmost buttress. The vestry has a four-light window with cusped lights.

Inside, the nave has a pointed-arch arcade of two orders carried on octagonal columns with moulded capitals, largely renewed in the 19th century. A small round-arched window to the south arcade, possibly dating from the 12th century, is partly obscured. The tower contains a tall pointed arch of two orders and a small two-centred arched doorway. The chancel has a two-bay arcade to the north chapel. The nave and chancel feature 19th-century roofs. A 14th-century octagonal pedestal font has a renewed base and a fine early 17th-century cover with three stages, fretted Gothic panels, and drop finials to the lower stage. There are also 19th-century Tudor revival-style pews and choir stalls. Some good fragments of medieval glass remain in the east window. Ten incised grave slabs, dating from the Saxon period to the 14th century, are set in the base of the tower. Several wall monuments are present, including a tablet to Lady and Sir Walter Calverley, dating from around 1752, with polychromatic marble, an achievement of arms, and three putti on the apron.