All Hallows Church, Bardsey
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All Hallows Church at the village of Bardsey, around 8 miles to the north east of Leeds, is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Yorkshire.
A Grade I listed building, the church dates back to the ninth century, its imposing Anglo-Saxon tower, curiously thin in proportion to the rest of the building, is the oldest surviving part dating from between 850 and 950 AD. Much remains of the tall narrow Saxon nave.
An elaborate Norman doorway remains the principle entrance to the church, the aisles also date from the Norman era and were widened in the fourteenth century. The north chapel was added in 1520 as a Chantry Chapel for Edmund Mauleverer of Wothersome, he and his son Robert were interred beneath it. the chapel now serves as the vestry.
The south chapel was built in 1724 for Lord Bingley of nearby Bramham Park.. The descendents of Lord Bingley, the Lane Fox family, have continued the family connection with All Hallows' Church and three of their funeral hatchments now hang on the south wall of the north aisle. The chapel is now the choir vestry.
The Bardsey Millennium Tapestry, created by many of the villagers, is hung at the west end of the north wall of the church. The tapestry took nearly five years to complete and was officially unveiled in October 2001. the four panels of the tapestry, each one reflecting one of the four seasons, picture a wide variety of village life and village people at the turn of the millennium.
The church is constructed of red sandstone with a coursed rubble tower and harrier-dressed gritstone to the chancel and south transept. The porch is ashlar and the roof of stone slate. The latest restoration was carried out by Charles R. Chorley and Son of Leeds in 1909
Abbeys and Churches of Yorkshire