Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is an Anglican church located in Beeston, Leeds. The nave and aisles were built in 1885-6 by C.H. Thornton, with the chancel added in 1877. The church is constructed of rock-faced coursed masonry with steeply-pitched slate roofs. It is designed in the Gothic Revival style.

The exterior features round clerestory windows with quatrefoil and trefoil lights. Smaller lancet windows are present on the aisles, and a Perpendicular window is located at the east end of the south aisle. A five-light east window with plate tracery is a prominent feature of the east facade, while a rose window with plate traceried two-light windows sits in the west gable. A small stone gabled porch is situated on the southwest side, and a square tower with an octagonal belfry, small gables over, and a short stone spire rises nearby. Two gravestones, belonging to the Clark family of Beeston Park and Beeston Lodge, are incorporated into the east wall of the vestry.

Inside, the church has a five-bay nave with cylindrical columns, roll-moulded caps, stone corbels, and an arch-braced timber roof. A 17th-century font with an octagonal base, chamfered shaft, and strapwork decoration to the bowl is located in the northwest corner; it was brought into use in 1886. The aisles are shallow, and wall memorials predate the rebuilding. On the north wall is a memorial to John Hewitt (1796), and another to Samuel Walker of Millshaw, a cloth manufacturer who lived from approximately 1796 to 1851. The south wall features a memorial to John Jackson of Cottingley Hall (1695), and a brass plaque commemorating Christopher Hodgson (1642) and Elizabeth Hodgson (1648). A west gallery is supported by cast-iron columns and houses an organ. The pulpit, given by Mary Scales of Armley Ridge in 1886, is octagonal with arcaded panels and molded and carved decoration. The chancel features attached octagonal columns, a ribbed and panelled ceiling, reredos panelling from 1920, and an altar from 1950. Fragments of 16th-century heraldic stained glass are incorporated into the east window of the south chapel, which is a re-set window from an earlier chapel. The chancel’s east window was created by Thomas Baillie in memory of William Hill (died 1841) for Harriet Hill (died 1878). Within the vestry, fragments of 12th-century carved stone have been reconstructed as an archway, though they are not presently visible.

Historically, a medieval chapel stood on this site, comprising a nave, chancel, and a late 15th-century south chapel. The entire structure was rebuilt after 1789, retaining the east windows. The present chancel was added in 1877, and the old building was demolished in 1885-6 when the nave was constructed. The medieval south chapel window was preserved and repositioned in the corresponding location in the new church. Earlier fragments were reconstructed in the vestry.