This article lists open, former and demolished places of worship situated within the boundaries of the City of Leeds.
Open places of worship
Aberford
Adel
Allerton Bywater
Alwoodley
Armley
Arthington
Bardsey
Barwick-in-Elmet
Beeston
Belle Isle
Boston Spa
Bramham
Bramhope
Bramley
Burley
Burmantofts
Calverley
Chapel Allerton
Chapeltown
City Centre
Clifford
Collingham
Colton
Cookridge
Cottingley
Cross Gates
Cross Green
Drighlington
East End Park
East Keswick
Farnley
Farsley
Fulneck
Garforth
Gildersome
Gipton
Guiseley
Halton
Halton Moor
Harehills
Harewood
Hawksworth (LS5)
Hawksworth (LS20)
Headingley
Holbeck
Horsforth
Hunslet
Hyde Park
Ireland Wood
Killingbeck
Kirkstall
Kippax
Lincoln Green
Little London
Mabgate
Meanwood
Methley
Micklefield
Middleton
Moortown and Moor Allerton
Morley
New Farnley
Osmondthorpe
Otley
Oulton
Pool-in-Wharfedale
Potternewton
Pudsey
Rawdon
Richmond Hill
Rothwell
Roundhay
Scholes
Scott Hall
Seacroft
Shadwell
Sheepscar
Stanningley
Swarcliffe
Swillington
Swinnow
Thorner
Thorp Arch
Tingley
Walton
Weetwood
West Park
Wetherby
Whinmoor
Whitkirk
Woodhouse
Woodlesford
Wortley
Yeadon
Former places of worship
Aberford
Adel
Alwoodley
Armley
Bardsey
Barwick-in-Elmet
Beeston
Bramham
Burley
Burmantofts
Calverley
Carlton, near Rawdon
Carlton, near Rothwell
Chapeltown
City Centre
Cross Gates
East Keswick
Farsley
Garforth
Gipton
Harehills
Harewood
Headingley
Holbeck
Horsforth
Kirkstall
Meanwood
Middleton
Moortown
Morley
New Farnley
Otley
Pudsey
Rawdon
Richmond Hill
Rodley
Roundhay
Seacroft
Shadwell
Sheepscar
Stanningley
Swarcliffe
Temple Newsam
Thorner
Thorpe on the Hill
Tingley
Weardley
Wetherby
Whinmoor
Wike
Woodhouse
Yeadon
Demolished places of worship
Adel
Remains of Roman tombstones and altars have been found near Adel Mill along Roman road 72b, which ran from Ilkley to Tadcaster. An altar dedicated to Brigantia and a stone slab with an inscription surrounding a phallus are both preserved in Adel parish church.
Alwoodley
Armley
Arthington
Beeston
There was a chapel in Beeston with an anchorite cell attached, built before 1257.
Belle Isle
Bramhope
The original Methodist chapel in Bramhope was built in 1837, near to the site of the current church, which replaced it in 1896.
Bramley
There was a chapel in Bramley at the time of King John (1199-1216), as shown by a deed witnessed by the Clerk of Bramley, called Norris.
Burley
Burmantofts
Buslingthorpe
The Church of St Michael was built in 1852–1854 on Buslingthorpe Lane and demolished in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The architect was O. W. Burleigh, of Leeds. The church was located at the western (Woodhouse Carr) end of Buslingthorpe Lane.
Chapel Allerton
Chapeltown
City centre
Before the reformation there were also four chantry chapels in what is now Leeds city centre: the chantry chapel of St Mary the Virgin at the north east end of Leeds Bridge, opened around 1327, a chantry chapel founded in 1430 by Leeds vicar Thomas Clarell, near to the vicarage in Kirkgate, a chantry chapel dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, founded in 1470, and one located in Lady Lane.: 60
Clifford
Cross Gates
Eccup
Kelly's Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire (1881) refers to a Methodist (Wesleyan) chapel in Eccup.
Farsley
Mediaeval Wadlands Hall, Priesthorpe Road, now the location of Wadlands Farm and Wadlands Cottage, had its own private chapel and chaplain. The field "Chapel Ing" commemorates this chapel, and it is possible that the name "Priesthorpe" is so called from the priest at the hall.
Guiseley
Leeds City Council's Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan for Guiseley notes that "a number of fragments from a 9th century Anglo-Saxon cross were discovered reused in the north wall of St Oswald’s Church. The remains of the cross and the dedication to an early saint may be evidence of a preconquest church at Guiseley."
Halton
Harehills
Harewood
Holbeck
Horsforth
Hunslet
Kippax
Leylands, The
Little London
Merrion Centre
Moortown
Newsam Green
Archaeologists believe that there may have been a chapel at the Temple Newsam Preceptory, south east of Temple Newsam House, a few yards to the south-east of junction 45 of the M1 motorway. Excavations in 1903 found human remains, stone coffins and a possible chapel, but a rescue dig in 1989-1991 failed to find the chapel, which was surmised to be under an industrial spoil heap to the south. The Gatehouse Gazetteer refers to "the area immediately north of the chapel", which had been disturbed by animal burials before the 1989-1991 excavation.
Otley
Pool-in-Wharfedale
Quarry Hill
Richmond Hill
Roundhay
The first post-Reformation Catholic church in Leeds was the Roundhay Mission.
Rothwell
Scarcroft
A Roman altar has been identified near Milner Beck in Scarcroft.
Shadwell
Sheepscar
Stourton
Swillington
Domesday Book states that 'a church is there', but no record of that building now remains.
Thorpe Park
Northern Archaeological Associates make reference to an altar of Iron Age or Roman origin at Grim's Ditch, part of an archaeological site investigated as part of the Thorpe Park commercial development.
Wetherby
Woodhouse
Wortley
Yeadon
Major sources
The following sources provide much of the detail used here:
- Minnis, John, (2007) Religion and Place in Leeds English Heritage (Architecture and dates)
- British Listed Buildings (Grades)
- Mosques in Leeds (Mosques, current and past)
- GENUKI The Ancient Parish of Leeds (Historical information on churches)
- Leodis - a photographic archive of Leeds Archived 29 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine (Leeds Library and Information Service)
See also
- Architecture of Leeds
- List of churches in the Anglican Diocese of Leeds
- List of places of worship in the City of Wakefield
References
