The Church of All Saints, Harlow Hill, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, is a grade II listed mission church, or chapel of ease, completed in 1871 on land donated by Henry Lascelles, 4th Earl of Harewood, within the parish of St Mary. It was consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon in 1871. The building was designed with a round bell tower, in Gothic Revival style, by Isaac Thomas Shutt and Alfred Hill Thompson. After some years of closure due to structural problems, as of 2014 it was being restored for use by a funeral director's company.
History
By the 1860s, Harrogate was growing westwards, and St Mary's parish required another church to accommodate the increasing number of parishioners, and to provide at the same time a mission church and chapel of ease. The Church of St Mary had no burial ground and needed one, so a large plot of land was donated by Henry Lascelles, 4th Earl of Harewood (1824–1892) so that All Saints was from the beginning a cemetery chapel. On 19 April 1870 the foundation stone was laid in the porch, and it carries this legend: "To the glory of God. As a memorial of the foundation of this church this stone was laid on April 19, 1870. Claude W. Roberts, Curate in Charge. I.T. Shutt, A.H. Thompson ARIBA, architects."
Opening and consecration
The building was opened by the Bishop of Ripon on Tuesday 11 April 1871. After the opening, the Bishop, clergy and guests were treated to a cold collation at the Adelphi Hotel, Harrogate. Due to "some technical informalities in connection with the title deeds in the conveyance of the church and land", the consecration was delayed until after the opening, so that for the opening the Bishop had to be granted a licence for holding the service in the church. The building and graveyard were therefore consecrated on Friday 25 August 1871 by the same bishop in a "strong breeze" and under a sun of "great power", accompanied by a large group of clergymen and church officials in their vestments. This was more than a year after the foundation stone was laid, the consecration cross having long been carved in the wall below the foundation stone in the porch. The Building News and Engineering Journal said: "The building itself is not unostentatious, yet not without architectural pretensions; and is designed in the continental style of Gothic architecture ... The roof is open-timbered, and the whole interior is effective and handsome. The exterior is bold in style, and free from much ornamentation."
People and events
The church was run by the vicar of St Mary's, who hosted the vestry meetings, and appointed churchwardens and sidesmen. It never had its own vicar. A major figure in the early days of All Saints was Rev. G. O. Brownrigg, who worked for seventeen years in the large parish of St Mary's, All Saints and Oatlands Mount, with their respective day and Sunday schools. He became ill and moved to Eastbourne, succeeded in 1893 in the parish by Rev. J. Chapman of Christ Church Highbury. The organist and choir master at All Saints in the early days was Frederic Bartle (1834–1895), father of twelve children and headmaster of St Mary's Church School.
A major event in April 1888 was the funeral of Joseph Fletcher (1824–1888) a saddler of Royal Parade, who had many friends and business acquaintances. Blinds were drawn in Royal Parade, and the hearse and four carriages were preceded by tradesmen walking solemnly, two abreast, all the way to Harlow Hill. His pallbearers were his workmen, and his coffin was pitch-pine with brass mountings and an engraved plate. He is buried on the north side of the cemetery.
Building exterior
This is a Grade II listed building, designated as such on 4 February 1975. The three main reasons for listing are said by Historic England to be: the Gothic Revival style, the "circular bell tower reminiscent of Irish bell-houses", and the building as an example of a work by architect I.T. Shutt. It was built parallel to the Otley Road (B6162), so that it is not quite oriented east–west, i.e. the chancel points to east-north-east, and the west window looks west-south-west.