HISTORY
“The Parish of All Hallows emerged, like so many others in our big cities, towards the end of the Victorian age, when the church was trying to keep pace with the rapid rise in population of those years.
In 1876 a small mission hut was established on Hartwell Road. Soon a new church was planned with the first incumbent, the Reverend Martyn Allnutt, taking personal charge of all building work. The work was completed in 1886 when the first church was consecrated.
During the Edwardian era the life of the district and of its church reached a high peak, with 800 children in Sunday School, 50 men in the Bible Class and a Company of the Church Lads‘ Brigade proudly making its contributions during the first world war.
After the war the wealthy families gradually moved away but the church continued a faithful witness with outstanding examples of christian faith and charity in each generation.
On April 29th, 1970, the old church was devastated by fire. Worship continued in the rather cramped conditions of the Parish Hall and latterly in our neighbouring parish church of St. Augustine, Wrangthorn.”*
The new building was completed and consecrated on February 10th, 1974 by the John Moorman, Bishop of Ripon.
*An extract from the service brochure used at the service for “The Consecration of the Parish Church of All Hallows Leeds, February 10th, 1974
Photos of the original All Hallows building by kind permission of Leeds Libraries, www.leodis.net
All Hallows' Parish Monthly Visitor, 1892
We have two parish magazines, available to view as pdfs, which give a fascinating insight into the life of Victorian-era All Hallows.
People
A lot of people have been associated with All Hallows over the years. What is a church without it’s people?! We have recorded the names, details and, in some cases, photos of some of the people that have led, helped, worshipped, been baptised, married or buried at All Hallows. Some of these people may have been important, influential people, many more will have been the ordinary people of Leeds. All of them have left an imprint of some sort on the church and it’s parish and all are equally important in the sight of God. Read about our clergy, our church wardens, the connection of All Hallows to the Tetley Family, the Stewart Family, or about Walter Ramsbottom Evers.
Our History Scrapbook
Have a look at the various interesting nuggets of All Hallows history that were presented as a blog on our old website.