The Church of St Cross is in

Middleton, Leeds Middleton is a largely residential suburb of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England and Historic counties of England, historically a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is situated on a hill south of Leeds city centre and north north-we ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church and part of the

Armley Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which now houses the Leeds Industrial ...

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

in the archdeaconry of Leeds, Diocese of Leeds.

History

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of St Cross was taken out of the extensive parish of Middleton after the Middleton

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

estate was built in the 1920s and the population in the area increased dramatically. St Mary's Church acquired a site on which to build a mission church and a temporary wooden building was erected in 1925 with funds from the Leeds Church Extension Society. A permanent church was built in 1933 with funding from the diocese. St Cross was created a separate parish in July 1935. A complete set of coins for 1933, including a 1933 penny, one of only seven known examples, was buried when the church's foundation stone was laid. The coins were found in 1970 to have been stolen.

Structure

The church was designed in the Early Christian style by F.L.Charlton for the Church Forward Movement. It has a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

frame and is clad in

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

Exterior

The church has five bays with narrow single light rounded windows to the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

of narrow closely spaced rounded arched windows. The church has a north east Italianate

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

-style bell tower with a single bell. The tower is 60 feet high.

Interior

The

is spanned by broad Gothic arches and there are five

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

arcades with rounded arches. The walls are plastered. The

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

credence table A credence table is a small side table in the sanctuary of a Christian church which is used in the celebration of the Eucharist (Latin ''credens, -entis'', believer). The credence table is usually placed near the wall on the epistle (south) sid ...

and

lectern A lectern is a standing reading desk with a slanted top, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. A lectern is usually attached to a stand or affixed to some other form of ...

were designed by Charlton and made by Robert Thompson of Kilburn who also made the

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

screens. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

is from St John at Adel and a 19th-century

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

came from

Ainderby Steeple Ainderby Steeple is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Ainderby Steeple is situated on the A684 approximately south-west of the county town of Northallerton, and to the immediate east of Morton-on-Swale. History The t ...

. A

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

made in

Oberammergau Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...

came from Christ Church in

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

. The interior was altered in 1982 when the rear two bays were partitioned to form a parish room and kitchen.

References

Notes Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Cross Church Middleton Churches in Leeds Anglican Diocese of Leeds Middleton Churches completed in 1933 20th-century Church of England church buildings