All Souls Church, Halifax

All Souls was commissioned and paid for by the local industrialist Edward Akroyd in 1856. The foundation stone was laid on 25 April that year. Akroyd appointed Sir George Gilbert Scott as architect, and the church was completed in 1859. Scott considered it to be his finest church. and Scott also designed Akroyd's own house and garden, the vicarage and houses for his employees. There is a statue of Akroyd, in its own lawned enclosure, immediately adjacent to the church.

Internally, between the nave and aisles are arcades with columns made from Derbyshire marble. The piers of the tower and transept arches are made from Aberdeen granite. The church is floored with Minton black, red and chocolate encaustic tiles. The three steps leading from the nave to the chancel are in Nottinghamshire red sandstone. The arcades between the chancel and the chapels are carried on columns of Italian marble. In the chancel is a sedilia, and a credence table built into its wall of the chancel. Between the nave and the chancel is an alabaster plinth carrying a screen in wrought iron. and the screen was made by Francis Skidmore. but was the largest instrument in the town. The…