Diameter: 19" Bell 1 of 2
Founded by Mears & Stainbank 1893
Dove Bell ID: 55364 Tower ID: 20885 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Hightown: St Barnabas
Overview
Grid reference: SE 183 242
Designed by W Swindon Barber of Halifax and built in 1892-3 on a site bequeathed by Benjamin Armitage of Littletown in 1855. The completed church cost £4,500 including the furnishings. Considered closure c.1984. West partition c.1990s.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Contact the Incumbent of Hightown for information.
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
4-bay nave with west bell-cote and clerestory, lean-to aisles with gabled south porch. West bay partitioned to form parish room with kitchen to north. Chancel with north vestry and south organ chamber. North transept containing vestries and WCs.
Dimensions:
Nave since partitioning –7m (23ft) wide x 12 m (40ft) long, aisles 3m (10ft) wide, chancel 3m (10ft) x 7m (23ft).
Footprint of Church buildings: 454 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
Archaeological records include those for C19th and C20th buildings relating to the textile trade including Rayners Textile Mill and Hare Park Mills, both late C19th, to the south-east, and C20th Victoria Dye works to the south-east. Walton Cross (a SAM), the base of an early C9th cross, is within 1km to the south-west.
The church was the first known building on the site and there are no burials.
The church was designed by a local architect W Swindon Barber of Halifax and built in 1892-3. The site was bequeathed for the purpose in 1855 by Benjamin Armitage of Littletown, together with a sum of £1,000. But it took a long time to raise the rest of the money, and it was not until 11 June 1892 that the foundation stone was laid by Mr Walter Freeman of Bilton Court, Knaresborough. The contractors were W & J Milner of Mirfield and the completed church cost £4,500 including the furnishings. The building was consecrated by Dr Walsham How, Bishop of Wakefield, on 21 September 1893.
The parish considered closure c.1984 but the decision was made to stay open. Some alterations have been made since then including the laying of carpet in the nave, the insertion of the west partition and kitchen and relocation of the font c.1990s. A fire in the south aisle is recorded in the inventory in 1997 which may have contributed to the loss of several items of furniture recorded in the original 1984 PM report.
Hightown, so called for its location on high ground, grew with the textile trade. Charlotte Brontë’s parents lived in Hightown 1812-15.
Some trees in the churchyard. No protections in place.
Exterior Description
Contemporary newspaper accounts speak of the church as "plain and substantial”, suited to its exposed site on a hill overlooking the Spen valley. It is a simple essay in the Early English style with triplets of equal lancet windows in each bay of the lean-to aisles, and cinquefoils in circles in the clerestorey. There is a continuous plinth around the church with ventilation grates.
The west gable has two tall lancets with trefoils in the heads under linked hoods with floriated stops and at the apex a bell-cote of stone with two arches for the two bells. The west walls of the aisles also have paired lancets and are divided from the nave wall by tall stepped buttresses. The aisles also have angle buttresses. The only other buttress is at the south-east corner marking the aisle from the organ chamber. It is a large buttress incorporating an uninscribed foundation stone and terminating in a gablet decorated with blind tracery. On the north side a double gabled projection, one originally intended to provide for Sunday School children, together contain the vestries, WCs and storage. East facing chimneys. North door with stairs and handrail up to it. Locked boiler house beneath.
The chancel has a group of three lancets in the east wall under which is a buttress to sill height, and there are also buttresses at the angles. 2 crosses in stonework above. The lancets are linked by hoodmoulds. There are two crosses carved in relief in roundels above. Stone cross finials are placed over the two east gables and the chancel roof is lower than the nave. Single lancets in north and south walls. Also smaller two-light window in south wall of organ chamber.
A wide gabled south porch, paved with stone flags, has a single step up into the porchway. 3-light detail in apex and stone finial to gable. Modern wood outer doors with pointed, chamfered surround.
Building Fabric and Features
Nave
19th century 4-bay
Bellcote
19th century west
Clerestory
19th century
Aisle
19th century lean-to
Porch
19th century gabled, south
Kitchen
20th century partitioned
Chancel
19th century
Vestry
19th century north
Organ (component)
19th century south chamber
Transept
19th century
Building Materials
Stone
19th century squared gritstone
Slate
19th century roof tiles
Painted Plaster
19th century interior
Interior
Interior Description
The interior has plastered and whitened walls leaving the stone dressings exposed. The western-most bay, of the now interrupted 4-bay arcade, has been partitioned by the insertion of a low boarded ceiling with ceiling lights, and glazed doors leading into the nave at the centre, and pointed wooden double doors to north and south sides. That to the north accesses storage that to the south provides access directly from the porch. A kitchen is located to the north side of this area. In the west wall, a reveal beneath the southern of the two lancets can still be seen dropping down to the floor. The font has been moved from its original location here to the east end of the nave. Chairs provide seating.
Within the main worship area, the arches of the arcade have an outer order with moulding along the arris and an inner chamfered order. The cylindrical pillars have plain bases and simply carved capitals. The eastern most bay of the north aisle has a filled-in arch with a door inserted into it, which opens into the transept-type space intended for the Sunday School children, now with several small rooms and access to WCs and the vestry.
The level floor is covered with carpet throughout obscuring the stone paving and boarded floors beneath the pews though metal grates remain exposed. The nave roof has tie-beams and kingpost principal trusses which rest on stone corbels between the clerestory windows (which are above a stone cill). Flood lights are fixed at clerestory level. Windows are all of clear rectangular leaded panes (except the east window). The font is now located at the east end of the nave, to the south of the chancel arch, echoing the position of the fixed stone pulpit on the north side. Organ pipes fill an arch at the east end of the south aisle. Both aisles have been cleared of fixed seating.
At the chancel arch there are two steps and the arch itself has two chamfered orders carried on chamfered responds with attached semi-cylindrical pillars with foliate capitals. An arch to the south of the chancel is filled by the organ. There is choir seating. To the north a doorway leads to the vestry, down 2 steps. A step up at the brass altar rail and another to the altar. The floor is carpeted, over stone flags. A recess in the south wall contains the sedilia. The roof has semi-circular braces to each pair of rafters giving almost the appearance of a vault. A 7-bay oak screen, once located across the chancel arch, is fixed against the east wall beneath the window. The frontals of the two tiers of choir stalls have been positioned in front of it.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
19th century Main altar - oak with three traceried front panels, 1893.
Altar
20th century Simple wooden table in the south aisle.
Pulpit
19th century Fixed circular stone pulpit with four steps, with trefoiled arcading around the body, standing on a big stone drum, 1893. With fixed brass reading stand.
Lectern
20th century A brass pedestal with curving candle-branches by Hardman Powell and Company to Barber’s design in 1893 was recorded in the 1984 report was not in evidence. Perhaps lost in the 1997 fire. There is a modern lectern of 1983.
Font (component)
19th century Octagonal stone on a drum of four conjoined colonettes with waterholding bases but no capitals; 3 faces carved with leaves around a cross, lead-lined bowl, raised on plinth of 1 step. Flat wood cover with raised brass handle / ornament.
Reredos
19th century 7-bay traceried chancel screen now acts as a reredos.
Pew (component)
19th century Fixed pine pews with brass handles on the central aisle ends. Those in aisles and at west end removed.
Stall
19th century Choir stalls – frontals relocated to east end.
Rail
19th century Brass, by Hardman Powell to Barber's design, 1892.
Organ (component)
20th century Small two-manual instrument of c 1900 by Abbott and Smith, Leeds.
Organ (component)
20th century Electric organ of 1996 by Thomas in north aisle.
Plaque (component)
20th century WWII memorial plaque on east wall of south aisle.
Stained Glass (window)
20th century The east window dates from c. 1911 and depicts The Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. Left - in memory of Benjamin Armitage d. 1855; Centre – Rev W Fowler d.1891; Right – Charlotte Freeman d.1891 Artist not identified.
Bells
Diameter: 21" Bell 2 of 2
Founded by Mears & Stainbank 1893
Dove Bell ID: 55365 Tower ID: 20885 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Portable Furnishings and Artworks
Registers date from 1893 and are held at the Diocesan Record Office.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SE 183 242
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Quinquennial Inspections
Submit a change
If you notice something incorrect or missing, please explain it in the form below and submit it to our team for review.