St Stephen's Church, Skipton

Virtual Tour - Exterior

>> Introduction  >  Exterior  >  Nave & Gallery  >  Sanctuary  >  Side chapel  >  Convent  <<

This tour will show you most of the features of the exterior and interior of the church. The Tempest vault and the Sacristy are not public areas and therefore are not covered on this Virtual Tour. You may view them by special appointment with the parish priest.

This is the view that one has from the cemetery on the north side of the church. One can just about see the hills in the distance looking towards Lothersdale. The school and the old Presbytery sit at the bottom of this hill. The Porri and Fattorini families are buried beside the church building.

This is the front or west facade of the church. The porch was added in 1852 and the door pictured here is now the main entrance to the church. The step has been worn away by generations of Mass-goers and visitors. In this photograph one can see the typically Gothic pitched roof which is covered with slate tiles. The skylights were fitted in 1968.

The entire church is faced with the beautiful honey-coloured West Yorkshire sandstone which characterises most of the buildings in Skipton.

The west front of the church is unfortunately marred by the alarm box. Nonetheless, one can still admire the simplicity desired by Thomas Peter Tempest.

The porch added in 1852 now obscures the original West Door of the church but this fine addition blends in harmoniously with the original 1842 building.

The church is built throughout in the simple early English Gothic style which flourished from 1170 to 1240. Characteristic of this style is the pointed arch and the thin lancet windows, the dog-toothed pointing and squat buttresses which are found throughout the church.

Incidentally, the west facade employs twin lancet windows with a shared mullion, flanked by two blind windows with pointed arches. This composition is also found in the nave of nearby Ripon Cathedral.

The crosses which top the church and the porch is in the cercelée style and is intricately carved from stone. There is a small trefoil arched niche on the front of the porch and this houses a statue of St Monica. In the 1852 architectural drawings, a king, possibly St Henry is depicted. St Monica is surely the secondary patron of this church and she is the mother of the Latin Church Father, St Augustine. She is a patroness of mothers and the symbol of perseverance and persistent prayer. No doubt the recusant Catholics looked to her example and dreamt of one day erecting a place like this in which to pray and celebrate the sacraments.

Enter the porch and into the church >>