Former Church Of St Denis At The Kennels, Harewood Park

Former Church of St Denis at The Kennels, Harewood Park

A parish church, now used as a store, rebuilt in 1864 with later additions. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar with dressings, and has tile and Welsh slate roofs.

The church consists of a combined nave and chancel of four bays, with a north vestry and a cylindrical bell-tower. A south porch and south chapel are also present. The architectural style combines late Romanesque and Early English elements.

The west elevation features an oculus in the gable with a pair of lozenge panels beneath. An arcade of five round arches, supported by attached shafts with cushion capitals, runs across this elevation. The inner pair of arches are glazed, while the centre and outer pairs are blind. A central pilaster rises beneath the arcade to a moulded string course, with flanking pilasters on either side.

The north elevation has four lancet windows, each under a label mould. The cylindrical bell-tower, positioned to the left, has an octagonal pitched slate roof and is supported on a circle of short shafts that form the bell-opening. The roof is penetrated by a chimney pot and has a finial at the apex. Four buttresses with offsets and deep plinths rise to the eaves between the lancets. The vestry to the right of the bell-tower has two windows with 4-centred heads, and an entry from the west with a trefoiled tympanum above the lintel.

The east elevation has three stepped moulded lancets flanked by a pair of weathered angle buttresses. Above the central lancet is a trefoiled opening set within a moulded circular margin, with a gable-cross above. To the left is a trefoiled light serving the south chapel.

The south elevation features three cinquefoiled circular lights above the porch roof, separated by three gabled weathered flying buttresses to the left and centre, with one angle buttress on the right. Below the two left-hand cinquefoiled lights is a porch in the form of a two-bay loggia. This has a pair of 2-centred trefoiled openings flanked by lower square-headed openings with round tympana, each supported on squat columns rising from a high plinth. Entry to the loggia is via the right-hand opening. To the right is the south chapel, entered by a west-facing round-headed doorway of one order with imposts breaking out into a label mould. The main entrance is the west bay of the loggia, similar in design but with a wooden tympanum. Within the loggia around the south door are four wall monuments, including a marble plaque to Henry Hoskins, died 1813, and a marble aedicule with broken pediment for Bennett Hoskyns, died 1679.

The interior has a four-bay quadripartite stone vault with chamfered ribs rising from part-octagonal chamfered and tapered corbels. A moulded string course runs around the west and north sides at a level corresponding with the bottom of the corbels. On the south side, the string course is level with the abaci of the corbels. At the east end, the lower string course becomes a red-brown and white marble frieze, returning westwards around the altar position. The frieze bears angels, grotesques, and an inscription reading: "AMEN: BLESSING AND GLORY: AND WISDOM: THANKSGIVING AND HONOR: AND POWER AND MIGHT: BE UNTO OUR GOD: FOR EVER AND EVER: AMEN".

The inner lancets in the east wall have clustered Purbeck-like shafts with rings. On the floor in the south-east corner is a floor tile, possibly medieval, showing two figures, the right one wearing a crown, holding hands above a tree. To the west of the two altar steps is a marble floor slab for Sir John Hoskins, Knight, died 1705, with an achievement in bas-relief set in an oval panel.

The south wall has deeply moulded round arches to the south doorway and chapel, the latter on moulded imposts with engaged squared shafts and deep bases. Upper 2-centred chamfered arches behind the outer cinquefoil lights rest on short columns.

The west wall has two round-headed windows linked by continuous roughly cut unfinished imposts.

The north wall has at its east end a recess, probably of the early 20th century, with a chamfered and moulded 2-centred head and head-stops, and a doorway to newel stairs leading down to the vestry. The windows contain stained glass. The easternmost window depicts The Virgin and is inscribed "S MARIA MATER DEI / ELIZ EMMA UX JOSEPHI PARRY". The next window to the west is pictorially illegible and inscribed "ANN: FIL: NATU MAXIMA JOSEPHI DE ALLINGTON PARRY". The second window from the west end depicts St George and the Dragon. The westernmost window shows "FAITH" and is inscribed "BLANCHE FIL UNICA JOSEPHI PARRY".