Church Of St Bartholomew

The Church of St Bartholomew is an Anglican church dating from 1872-77, with subsequent additions around 1900. Designed by Henry Walker and Joseph Athron, it was built to accommodate the rapidly expanding population of south Leeds, replacing a smaller chapel whose foundations and vault remain in the adjacent churchyard. The building is constructed of coursed sandstone, with ashlar detailing, and has a slate roof. It is executed in a Gothic Revival style and includes lancet windows throughout.

The church features a tower over the crossing, with an octagonal bell stage topped with pinnacles and a short octagonal spire. The clerestory has six pairs of lancet windows, while the lower aisles have five lancets each and projecting gabled porches. The west front has a tripartite lancet window and turrets, and the polygonal apse has seven lancets. Rose windows are situated in the transept gables, above two rows of three lancets. A north porch provides access.

The spacious interior is faced with limestone from Ancaster. The nave consists of six bays supported by quatrefoil columns of Greenmoor stone, with tie-beam trusses featuring angels holding shields. The chancel has a vaulted ceiling and a reredos erected in 1877, featuring alabaster carvings depicting the Magi, the crucifixion, and Old Testament figures. The altar steps are black, red, and white, and mosaic panels in a Pre-Raphaelite style depict the Annunciation and scenes from the life of Christ; lower-level mosaics represent angels symbolising Prayer and Peace, along with three saints, added in the 1920s. The church also features finely carved choir stalls, a clergy screen, and a pulpit made of alabaster and marble, copied from the shrine of St Sedbald in Neuremberg. The Schulze organ, housed within an intricately carved case by Walker and Athron featuring five angels playing musical instruments, is supported by a stone double arcade. The west end windows illustrate parables of Jesus and archangels, with a lower mosaic depicting Christ's Baptism witnessed by saints and martyrs. The octagonal font is constructed from red and black marbles. Fine wooden glazed screens separate the inner porches from the north and south doors.

Memorial sculptures are located in the aisles. In the north aisle is a sculpture of Benjamin Gott, of Armley House, who died in 1839, sculpted by Joseph Gott. The sculpture’s pink veined marble base features a darkened plaque inscribed with a tribute to Gott’s character, justice, and friendship. The south aisle houses a sculpture titled ‘Faith comforting the Mourner’, commemorating the deaths of Benjamin and Elizabeth Gott’s two sons in Paris and Athens. The organ, originally installed at Meanwood Towers, was gifted to the family by T.S. Kennedy and later relocated to Harrogate before being installed in the church. It has been described as "undoubtedly the grandest example of a modern Gothic organ in England".