200th Anniversary of Bronte Wedding

Picture of Bronte Marriage Church.

Today is the 200th anniversary of the marriage of the Reverend Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell who was to become his wife.

Today is the 200th anniversary of the marriage of the Reverend Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell who was to become his wife.

The wedding took place here in Guiseley Parish Church on 29th December 1812. In the above photo taken by me this morning is the rail at which they took the wedding vows and above the rail a wooden plaque celebrating the marriage here. Also between the rain and the wooden plaque there is a copy of the marriage certificate of Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell.

On marriage to Patrick, Maria was aged 29 and the couple would go on to have 6 children before she died of cancer aged 38 on the 15 September 1821. Their marriage lasted fewer than ten years but within that time the legacy of the four younger children (the eldest two Maria and Elizabeth died before the age of 12) was set in place. Today those four, the three sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne and their brother Branwell live on in the classic works of literature set right here in Yorkshire.

To celebrate this anniversary the bells of the church here at Guiseley were rung this morning with a 2 and 3/4 hour full peal.

Petrea Burchard30 December 2012 at 03:46 The photo and story are wonderful, and the bells are a special treat!

Reply Librarian30 December 2012 at 08:45 Thank you, this was very interesting! While I am not a Bronte "fan" as such, the stories of their lives move me, and I have often stood at the grave at one of the sisters in Scarborough, just before the road leads up to the castle.

Reply Chrissy Brand30 December 2012 at 17:53 Fascinating, tempus fugit.

Reply

Deb30 December 2012 at 18:17 Goodness the bell ringers must have been ready for a cuppa after that! Interesting post Paul I had always assumed they married in Ireland. Looking forward to the panorama. Reply

St John the Evangelist Church in Spring, Leeds

Picture of the church of St John the Evangelist, Leeds in springtime.

This is not the first time I have featured this fine old church building that is located in Leeds city centre. Because of its location I suspect quite a few people in Leeds never notice this old church. Since St Johns was built in the early part of the 17th C there is today a much more recent shopping centre standing between the church and the Headrow.

Here you can see another view of the church of St John, Leeds taken in the last of this winters snow but from the other side.

Holy Trinity Church Tower, Leeds

Picture of Holy Trinity Church tower Leeds.

Here is a view of the tower of Holy Trinity Church in Leeds city centre. Not sure how I managed to miss posting a photograph or 2 of this old Leeds landmark in the nearly 900 posts that so far make up my photographic journey through the city of Leeds.

I took this photo about a year back in June of last year whilst standing in the small lane that leads to Trevelyan Square, somewhere else yet to feature on the Leeds Daily Photo. At the time I took this photo a large retail development called Trinity Leeds was in progress adjacent to the church. The developers have installed a webcam looking down on the Trinity Leeds development that also includes the church tower in the picture. The development is due to be completed in 2013.

I was playing with the image of the church tower and quite like this version, because it looks rather arty and yet you still get an idea of the structure.

PerthDailyPhoto said... I like what you've done with your image Paul,makes it look all dark and intriguing, but still keeps the colourful touches. Lovely subject! Had a look at the webcam picture seems to be a lot of work going on in that area. Have a good Sunday.

JUNE 5, 2011 12:33 AM llandudnopictures said... This really is a beautiful image. It reminds me of China, for some reason, perhaps the dark and the red and the steepled buildings.

JUNE 5, 2011 5:31 PM

St John the Evangelist Church in Snow Leeds, Yorkshire

Picture of St John the Evangelist church in snow, Leeds.

Recently when I posted a couple of stories about John Harrison of Leeds, his statue that stands in City Square and the church that he built and endowed St John the Evangelist church, I realised that I had not really done justice to this fine old church.

So here in the above photo is St John the Evangelist church, seen from across Merrion Gardens, towards the end of a snowy afternoon this last winter.

Dianne said... This is a beautiful photo Paul - covered in snow just like a Christmas Card scene.

MARCH 16, 2011 6:05 AM DeeBee L. said... These wintery colours give a dramatic effect to the photo, very nice.

MARCH 16, 2011 7:25 AM llandudnopictures said... Wow! Brilliant photo Paul. It would make a great Christmas card.

MARCH 16, 2011 1:04 PM RedPat said... Lovely pic - snow can make a scene soooo wonderful!

MARCH 16, 2011 11:48 PM Leif Hagen said... That's a fantastic, award-winning winter photo!

MARCH 18, 2011 4:15 AM

All Souls Church Leeds

Picture of All Souls Church, Leeds.

All Souls Church Leeds is a large Victorian stone built church and part of the church of England, that is located next to Blenheim Lodge on Blackman Lane.

This C of E church has a few interesting details, it was built by public subscription, as a memorial to Dr W. F. Hook, Vicar of Leeds for some 22 years and later Dean of Chichester. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, "to stem the tide of spiritual destitution" in the area, and is the last church he designed before his death in 1878: his son, John Oldrid Scott, took over the supervision of the building.

The foundation stone was laid in September 1876, the church was consecrated on the 29th of January 1880.

Between 1968 and 1974 part of the church was used as the BBC Leeds TV studios, primarily for the nightly local news programme Look North. In 1974 the BBC moved to studios nearby at Broadcasting House, on Woodhouse Lane. I did not move to Yorkshire till much later so I never saw any of these programmes.

Normally I would have been further back to get this photo, however there is a building quite close to it, so until I get a wider lens this is it.

Treasures Revealed St Aidan

Picture of detail of mosaic at church of St Aidan at Harehills, Leeds.

Yesterday I revisited the church of St Martin at Potternewton, Leeds and then went to have a look at St Aidan's church in Harehills. I lived in Harehills for around 1 year when I was a student in Leeds many years back, so I know the area pretty well. Although I had walked around the outside of the church of St Aidan I had never been beyond the locked door. I knew St Aidans was large form the exterior but it was quite a bit bigger inside than I had thought. Everything about St Aidan's is on an almost Soviet era scale but especially the font and the pillars.

The one thing most people know about St Aidan's is the mosaics by Frank Brangwyn, these were completed in 1916. Originally Brangwyn was commissioned to decorate the church with a painting, but he worried about the smoky atmosphere in the area damaging the work so he started anew and produced a mosaic instead. The mosaic in the apse shows scenes from the life of St Aidan and it like the church itself is on a grand scale. In the above picture can be seen a length of a mosaic on the stairway leading up to the altar with some of the main mosaic above and beyond this.

Treasure Revealed Leeds continues for the rest of this week at various religious sites across Leeds.

Misty Yorkshire Churchyard

Picture of a misty Yorkshire churchyard at the Church of St Wilfrid, Calverley, Leeds.

These last few mornings have been quite misty here in this little bit of Yorkshire. I have often driven through the village of Calverley on my journey into Leeds but until recently I had never explored the village.

The Church of St Wilfrid is perhaps the best known building in Calverley there has been a church here since the time of the Normans and most likely there was one here in Saxon times.

But on this misty day I was more interested in the misty churchyard, there are many gravestones in the oldest section of the churchyard with mostly 17th, 18th and 19th century headstones. I showed this picture to a friend and she asked if I was scared, I replied no all the graves are just long dead and gone people.

For some time after we die, we live on in the thoughts and memories of our family and friends. But after 100 plus years all that people leave are the words on a headstone in the graveyard. This churchyard has many headstones both large and small and some of them are over 300 years old.

I took photos of a few of the, to me at least, interesting gravestones and will post a few of them in the next day or so.

Neither Angel Nor Musician

Picture figure in the church of St John in Leeds city centre.

I walked by the now redundant St John the Evangelist's Church a few days back and was surprised to see that it was now open to visitors again.

This rather beautiful old church has been closed for some time but apparently it was re-opened this week by Loyd Grossman who aside from his sauces and TV work is the chairman of The Churches Conservation Trust who now maintain the church. I only found about the event the day after though I later discovered that two people I know knew that it was taking place.

Looking around the church I took some photographs of the inside but especially the stained glass windows. I also noticed the carved corbels high at the top of the walls, these being described as being angels and musicians. The carved corbel in the above picture looks to me much more like a ships mascot than an angel.

The church of St John the evangelist on New Briggate, Leeds is now open Tuesdays - Saturdays, 11.00am - 3.00pm.

Just across from the church in a building that was presumably formerly something connected with the church but with rather a nice modern extension is the recently opened The Arch Cafe run by Age UK Leeds. I will post about that sometime in the near future.

By chance a few days after visiting this church of St John here in Leeds I discovered that there was another one of that name that I did not know of so I visited that a couple of days back. That is another post that will hopefully appear soon.

Charity Jigsaw Festival

Picture of the jigsaw festival at St Martins church, Brighouse.

These last few days it has been the first Brighouse Arts Festival and on Saturday I traveled over to have a look.

The Brighouse Arts Festival lasts until Friday the 31st August and there are still several events open to attend. I was sorry to miss the IAN McMILLAN ORCHESTRA which was on this last Friday, having met him and been in the audience of one of his shows I can say he is well worth seeing.

The one thing I really wanted to get to see was the Charity Jigsaw Puzzle Festival at the church of St Martin in the town, mostly because I wanted to look at the stained glass windows in the church. The trick with looking at churches is to get there when they are open to visitors. It has been said to me why not just turn up on Sunday morning but thats not always the answer because to get some pictures its not always convenient either just before or just after the service.

The Jigsaw Festival at St Martins was they think the first of its kind to be held here in West Yorkshire, there having previously jigsaw festivals elsewhere in England. There were over 600 assembled jigsaws. with around 200 at any one time on display in the body of the church.

The jigsaw event was partly about fun but it has a serious aim, helping the church to raise funds for several local charities including the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.

Like many churches around the country St Martins has a kitchen and whilst I was there I had coffee and a cherry cake which was very nice.

Fortitude in Otley Church

Picture of stained glass window at Otley parish church, Yorkshire.

I loved the stained glass windows in churches, mostly for the art and the colours but also in part because of the variety of subjects.

Whilst it is true that many of the windows show scenes from the bible, quite a few do not they show scenes from life, with animals like lions, tigers and even as one I saw recently a frog.

The picture above shows a detail in a window at Otley parish church, All Saints which I visited yesterday. The whole small window shows four of the virtues charity, humility, fortitude and faith. This detail from the window shows fortitude as a woman with a shield and a club which is about the ability to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage.

When I first saw this image I could not help but be reminded of the old cartoon of the wife waiting for her man to return drunk from the pub with her rolling pin in her hand.

Garforth Church

This church is St Mary's at Garforth, which I visited yesterday as part of Treasures Revealed here in Leeds. I had not been to Garforth in several years and never to the church.

The church of St Mary is not a big church, but it does I think have a nice atmosphere and also some rather nice stained glass windows. I am not sure about the East Window, these triple lights were 'the work and gift of Mary Isabella and Elizabeth Oliver Gascoigne' whose family partly paid for the building of the current early Victorian church.

The above photo shows a view of St Mary's from the car park at the back of the building, to the left in the picture is the church hall and on the right a good sized yew tree.

Marian Lapish WRAF

Picture of CWGC headstone Marian Lapish WRAF at St Marks church Leeds.

Whilst exploring the churchyard of St Marks church in Woodhouse Leeds looking for a family grave for someone who had reading this blog I noticed the grave of someone else.

Marian Lapish was a member of the fledgling Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) and died 3 November 1918 whilst serving with No. 2 Aeroplane Repair Depot at RAF Norton (now Gleadless), Sheffield. Marian was the daughter of John and Laura Lapish, of 81, St. Mark's Rd the road the church is on here in Leeds.

I have no real idea how Marian died at the age of 20 here in Yorkshire, however I think that is is quite possible that the 1918 flu pandemic may have been the cause. Around 250,000 people died here in the UK during the 30 months that the "Spanish" flu was around and most victims were healthy young adults.

Written on the standard CWGC headstone are the words: BLEST ARE THE PURE IN HEART. These words were chosen by her family, I would like to think that they were of some small comfort, it cannot have been easy burying their daughter at such an age.

The WRAF was founded in 1918 and disbanded in 1920 only to re founded as the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1939 before becoming the WRAF once more in 1949.

In 1994 the WRAF merged with the Royal Air Force and women can apply for and indeed do the majority of jobs available. Today Flight Lieutenant Kirsty Stewart (Executive Officer) flies as Red 9 in the Red Arrows, The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team. Kirsty is the first woman to fly with the Red Arrows and flew combat missions in her Tornado over Iraq, something that would have surprised the early members of the WRAF like Marian who could perhaps serve as drivers or mechanics.

Church of St. John the Evangelist, Wortley, Leeds

Picture of Church of St. John the Evangelist, Wortley, Leeds

On the day I visited the church of St. John the Evangelist, Wortley de Leeds the grass in the churchyard had been very recently cut. The churchyard has quite a few upright Victorian memorials and headstones and is in far better condition than several others I have visited in Leeds.

This view of the church is from the churchyard and is partly obstructed by several trees. The churchyard of St Johns has been turned into a wildlife trail with markers naming various trees, shrubs and other things of interest.

The current church was built in 1898 and replaced a former church that was built on this site in 1787.

St Oswalds Church Yorkshire Redux

This is a view through the gate to the parish church of St Oswalds in Collingham, Yorkshire.

Holy Rosary Church, Chapeltown Road, front entrance.

Holy Rosary Church, Chapeltown Road, front entrance.

Leeds Parish Church

Picture of Leeds Parish Church. This view of Leeds Parish Church is not the one that most people would think of. I took this photo looking at the side of the church from the West. Because of the proximity of nearby buildings you cannot get further away which would enable a bit more of the tower to be visible. This current church was built by the then Vicar of Leeds Walter Farquhar Hook (13 March 1798 – 20 October 1875) and it was consecrated on 2 September 1841 with Florence Nightingale in the congregation.

St Thomas Church Leeds

St Thomas Church Leeds This is the church of St Thomas in Stanningley on the edge of Leeds, which I visited earlier today. I am not sure why I seem to have missed visiting this rather nice old church before, but I had passed it a couple of times over the last few weeks and so stopped off today for a quick look around. The church itself was locked and there was no one around. St Thomas the church was built in 1841, or more likely completed in 1841 and consecrated that year in the presence of Dr Hook who was then Vicar of Leeds and the Vicar of Bramley in whose parish this then was. The church itself was built in a Norman style with a tower and is today a listed building being Grade II. The churchyard is rather overgrown but it does have some rather nice wildflowers, which in my view is no bad thing. It could perhaps do with some churchyard sheep or perhaps goats. Sometime soon I will try to have a look inside this church.