SE3033 : St John's, Leeds - nave looking east
taken 3 years ago, near to Leeds, England
Said to be the oldest remaining church building in Leeds, St John's was the creation of wealthy merchant John Harrison. Consecrated in 1634 (though building may have started some years earlier) it was reordered in 1807, in 1830-38 by John Clark, in 1866-1868 by Richard Norman Shaw and by Temple Moore in the 1890s. A more detailed description is given in the listing (see below) and a full history by Janet Douglas can be found in the 2005 Leeds volume of the Pevsner guides.
St John's is no longer open for regular worship having closed as a parish church in 1975. In 1977 it was vested in the Churches Conservation Trust who carried out further restoration and since 2012 have opened it to the public on Heritage Open Days and a few other occasions each year. The churchyard, closed to burials in 1986, remains accessible at all times and is one of the few green spaces in the city centre.
The church building is listed grade I and the churchyard boundary walls grade II (list entries 1375157 and 1375159 respectively).