" For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body - whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink."
1 Corinthians 12:13
1 Corinthians 12:13
The Local Community
All Souls, the Memorial Church to Dr Hook, Vicar of Leeds, is situated on the crest of a hill, rising like a mighty beacon over the former army barracks and the bustling town of Leeds.
Gilbert Scott, perhaps the greatest ecclesiastical architect of the time, designed All Souls' on a grand scale, having in mind the nave of one of the great Yorkshire abbeys. Few realise that the visual impact of this towering building was maximised by Gilbert Scott, who manipulated the alignment of the Church from the generally accepted West to East axis, to make the East end even more prominent from the centre of the city.
Its hard to imagine how prominent our Church was when it was built, particularly as the skyline around Broadcasting Square is now full of high rise buildings. If you get the opportunity to stand at the top of our tower, you will see where you can see to in the distance.
Gilbert Scott, perhaps the greatest ecclesiastical architect of the time, designed All Souls' on a grand scale, having in mind the nave of one of the great Yorkshire abbeys. Few realise that the visual impact of this towering building was maximised by Gilbert Scott, who manipulated the alignment of the Church from the generally accepted West to East axis, to make the East end even more prominent from the centre of the city.
Its hard to imagine how prominent our Church was when it was built, particularly as the skyline around Broadcasting Square is now full of high rise buildings. If you get the opportunity to stand at the top of our tower, you will see where you can see to in the distance.
All Souls looking down Blackman Lane. Photograph below is taken from the street to the right of the tower. Courtesy of Leodis
All Souls was situated in an area known as the 'Laylands', an area ministering to the disparate populations of Blenheim and Carlton Hill. Blenheim with its grand houses and lodges surrounding the square, stood in stark contrast besides the impoverished population living in the narrow rows of terraced back to back houses that hugged the hillside down to Camp Hill (now Little London) and onto Meanwood Road.
Photograph of Souls from Blenheim Mount (now the park) courtesy of Leodis
The neighbouring Church of Saint Matthews stood nearby at the bottom of the slope in Camp Hill. Built before All Souls (between 1850 - 1851) at a cost of £3,0000 the Church was designed by Burleigh, architect of Leeds, in the Decorated style. The density of the population at the time is illustrated by the need for two Churches within such close proximity (illustrated in the photograph below showing Saint Matthews as the row houses were demolished in the 1960s and with All Souls just visible at the very top edge parallel to the last row of houses).
Picture courtesy of Leodis
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Saint Matthews Church boasted a broach spire which was added in 1854 and towered up over 145 feet. One can only wonder if there was an element of competitiveness between the different parties, hence the grandeur of All Souls. Besides any speculation about competition, it is apparent that no expense was spared on All Souls, with its public subscriptions meeting its cost of £20,000, £17,000 more than the cost of a Saint Matthews, yet seating 100 people less at a total of 900! |
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The row houses lining the hillside were gradually demolished to make way newer block of high rises and spacious flats and houses. The area adjacent to the north side of the Church below Blenheim Grove was left as open space and is now a park, a tree filled area which physically and visibly separates us from the community of Little London, whilst to the west we are surrounded by the myriad of student accommodation and flats that occupy the once grand houses of Blenheim Square.
It is hard now to imagine the bustle and activity that would have filled the Parish of All Souls on a daily basis. The wealthy gradually moved further out to the newer suburbs of Headingley and Chapel Allerton, whilst the Second World War and economic decline that followed did little to help the poverty stricken population. The row houses were deemed health hazards and like many cities across the country, programmes of regeneration and redevelopment ensued.
All Souls still stands grandly over the city, but is now almost isolated and forgotten, in an area that is traffic calmed and almost deserted, a place of peace away from the bustle of the town and vibrancy of the nearby Universities.
Looking towards All Souls from the site of the demolished houses (late 1970s).
Note the boarded up Vicarage and unkempt look of the area.
Photograph taken from site of playground in photo below.
View towards Saint Matthews Church (now demolished) note previous photograph of Blenheim Mount where playground is
The following is an extract taken from All Souls Parish Profile
The area within the parish boundary of All Souls’ Little London has a population of about 5,500. 54% were born in England compared with 83% of the general population.
37% have an ethnic origin other than British compared with 8% of the general population.
The non-British ethnic group which has the highest population is African at 14%, followed by Arab (7%), Asian (6%), Chinese (4%), Caribbean (3%) and people of other ethnicities (3%). The occurrence of each of these ethnic groupings in the general population is between 1% and 2%.
The age groupings which vary most widely from those of the general population are under 4s (9% in the parish and 6% in the general population) and young adults aged 18 to 29 (35% in the parish and 17% in the general population). Conversely, the preponderance of residents over 65 is 7% compared with 15% in the general population.
71% of people in the parish live in flats and maisonettes compared with only 17% in the general population.
At 33% the proportion of adults of working age in full-time employment is not much less than the national average of 39%. However, the number of households with children with no adult in employment is nearly twice as high as in the national average.
Through recently attending meetings facilitated by local community workers we have learned of residents’ concerns about the lack of facilities for children and young people, the hazardous situations found in public areas of high-rise flats and the need to make the newly-built community centre and housing office more responsive to local needs.
We need to develop our pastoral involvement to address social isolation arising from the significant proportion of transient residents, people who are elderly, those who have recently arrived from abroad, those belonging to single-person and single-parent households including those who live in tower blocks. This is a challenging task for a church community like ours which is used to living the gospel through long-standing personal relationships rather than through reaching out into the unknown. Nourished by our worship there is hope but we also seek inspiration as we build new relationships through initiatives such as our community garden, school liaison and residents' meetings.