Dr Hook’s New Church: The Building
Dr Christopher Webster
Admission: Free
Organised by Leeds Minster
As part of the Heritage Open Days 2024 festival of heritage and culture, the Minster has organised a special series of lectures which will explore fascinating aspects of the origins and history of this outstandingly important Grade 1 listed building. When the present building opened in 1841 not only was it the largest church to be built in England since the completion of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1710, but the influence of its design and the liturgy that the Vicar of Leeds, Dr Hook introduced, was to spread across the Anglican world. It really is a remarkable building.
Admission to the lectures is free. All of them will begin at 12.15 p.m., last approximately 45 minutes and questions will be invited at their end. No booking is required.
Sunday 1 September 2024. The Medieval Parish Church of Leeds, speaker Dr Kevin Grady.
This lecture tells the amazing story of how the small church with its Viking crosses at the heart of the original medieval settlement of Leeds became a massive parish church which endured until its demolition in 1838 for the erection of the present day Minster.
Sunday 8 September 2024. Dr Hook’s New Church, The National Context, speaker Dr Christopher Webster.
Precisely because Hook’s new church was so influential, we are inclined to overlook how radical it was in 1841. This lecture places the new church in the context of Anglican church-building in late-Georgian England and reveals just how innovative the internal layout at Leeds really was.
Sunday 15 September 2024. Dr Hook’s New Church: The Building, speaker Dr Christopher Webster.
Within months of his arrival in Leeds, Hook was determined to rebuild his church. This lecture will consider the evolution of the design as Hook and his architect, R.D. Chantrell, worked together to produce the outstanding build that has changed relatively little since its consecration.
