Historic churches · Yorkshire & the Humber
West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate
West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate — Grade II listed church in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK.
Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence
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Plan your visit
- Typical visit
- 30 min–1 h
- Nearest railway station
- Harrogate · 0.4 km
- Free entry
About
West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate is a historic church in the United Kingdom. Heritage designation: Grade II listed building. Wikidata describes it as: "Grade II listed church in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK". Coordinates: 53.9907°, -1.5405°.
Photo gallery
Heritage listing
West Park United Reformed Church is located in the West Park area of Harrogate, England, and is a Grade II listed building. It was designed in Nonconformist Gothic style as West Park Congregational Church by Lockwood & Mawson and completed in 1862 for around £5,000. Along with Belvedere Mansion across the road, it was intended as part of the prestigious entrance to the Victoria Park development (now West Park). For the Congregationalists it was meant to house an increasing congregation of visitors brought to the spa town by the recently built railways. It became a United Reformed church in 1972. Its first minister was the much-loved Reverend John Henry Gavin who died in his prime of tuberculosis and had a big funeral in which many followed the coffin.
From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.
From the Wikipedia article
West Park United Reformed Church is located in the West Park area of Harrogate, England, and is a Grade II listed building. It was designed in Nonconformist Gothic style as West Park Congregational Church by Lockwood & Mawson and completed in 1862 for around £5,000. Along with Belvedere Mansion across the road, it was intended as part of the prestigious entrance to the Victoria Park development (now West Park). For the Congregationalists it was meant to house an increasing congregation of visitors brought to the spa town by the recently built railways. It became a United Reformed church in 1972. Its first minister was the much-loved Reverend John Henry Gavin who died in his prime of tuberculosis and had a big funeral in which many followed the coffin. Sir Francis Crossley laid the foundation stone, Thomas Raffles preached at the opening, and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia later worshipped there. The building has a large Binns pipe organ and the tower contains a single bell cast at Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The gargoyles on the tower have chicks carved on the nest-like capitals below them, and the south wall has twelve carved heads of historical characters, including Isaac Watts, John Bunyan, John Milton and Oliver Cromwell. In July 2025 the church building held a local history display called the Harrogate Story, and it became a community hub for local events. Although still owned by the United Reformed Church, it is now also known as the West Park Centre.
Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.
Background
History
The works had already started when the foundation stone was laid on Wednesday 14 August 1861, in front of a large crowd of Harrogate spa visitors and residents, by Frank Crossley MP. Following a service and a sermon "remarkable for the power and elegance of its diction" by Reverend G.W. Conder, at the Independent Chapel, the company including twenty priests and three judges processed to the new site. A "large concourse of persons ... including a considerable number of ladies" awaited them. Under the cornerstone was placed a time capsule in the form of a sealed bottle, containing documents, newspapers and coins. Using his presentation silver trowel, Crossley laid the cornerstone over the…
Architecture
The main interior ground floor space is a 72 x parallelogram and is 38.5 ft high, the lack of transepts and side-aisles being conducive to good acoustics. As of 2020 the church is considering "further major alterations." <gallery mode=packed heights="200px"> File:West Park United Reformed Church 9 August 2020 (81).JPG|False hammer beam roof File:West Park United Reformed Church 9 August 2020 (67).JPG|Gallery staircase File:West Park United Reformed Church 9 August 2020 (38).JPG|Cast iron column File:West Park United Reformed Church 9 August 2020 (39a).JPG|Binns organ File:West Park United Reformed Church 9 August 2020 (47).JPG|Carving on organ arch File:West Park United Reformed Church 9…
Visiting
The church opened at 11.00 a.m. on 13 August 1862. At the opening service, the church was full to the extent that extra seating was included in the aisles. Present were "a number of the leading Nonconformist gentlemen of the county <nowiki>[of Yorkshire]</nowiki>." These included John Crossley, Edwin Firth, Judge William Willans, Thomas Freeman Firth, Henry Brown, William Milnes, John Wade, William Scholefield, Dr John Greenwood, Miles Illingworth, John Peele Clapham JP, John Northorp, William Hartley Lee, John Shaw, Jabez Howell , George Brown, R. Gallsworthy, Henry Francis Lockwood, Rev. Dr Thomas Raffles, Rev. S. Martin, Rev. J.G. Neall, Rev. G.W. Conder, Rev. J.H. Morgan, Rev. W. Howes,…
Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates
- 53.9907, -1.5405
- District
- North Yorkshire
- Parish
- Harrogate
- Postcode
- HG1 1LE
- Parliamentary constituency
- Harrogate and Knaresborough
- Nearest railway station
- Harrogate — 0.4 km
- Official site
- www.harrogatewestparkurc.org.uk
Sources
- wikidata: Q7986175 (CC0)
- wikipedia: West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- commons: West Park URC Harrogate, 17 July 2020 (5).JPG (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Frequently asked questions
- Where is West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate?
- West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate is in Yorkshire, United Kingdom (postcode HG1 1LE), in the parish of Harrogate.
- Is West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate a listed building?
- West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate is officially recognised as Grade II listed building listed.
- Is West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate free to visit?
- Yes, West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate is free to enter.
- How do I get to West Park United Reformed Church, Harrogate?
- The nearest railway station is Harrogate, about 0.4 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode HG1 1LE.