Mr. Thomas Nicholson's wealth was acquired in the shipping industry, and, although a Quaker, it is understood that he cherished the idea of building and endowing a church on the borders of his park. However, due to his death, it was left to his successors to carry out his intentions. His widow - he died without issue - had possession of the estate until her death in l833 and then it passed to his brother Stephen Nicholson, a banker, who founded the church in 1826.

A church, school, vicarage and almshouses1 were all comprised in the original Nicholson scheme, but many years elapsed before the scheme was completed. First of all, jn respect or the church itself, much preliminary procedure was necessary. A petition to the Crown was submitted and this ran :-

"It would be of great benefit and utility to the inhabitants of Roundhay and the said other inhabitants
if a Church or Chapel-of-ease were erected within the said Township of Roundhay, therefore Stephen Nicholson, your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subject, doth most humbly beseech your majesty that he may build a Church or Chapel-of-ease with a gallery, and make a piece of land into a cemetery or burial ground." (sic)

The spiritual needs of Shadwell and Seacroft (not having churches of their own) had also to be considered, and with Roundhay, the combined number of inhabitants was some 1100. These facts were stressed in the Petition and were supported by the recommendations of the Parliamentary Commissioners as follows :-

"Roundhaye, alias Roundhay Park, which being distant from its parish church of Barwick 3 miles, we think Fit to divide from it and Shadwell in the Parish of Thorner, distant from its Parish Church 2 miles; and Brandon in the parish of Harwood, and distant from its Parish Church 2 miles; and all three we think fit to be made one parish of themselves and for that end a Parish Church to be built at Roundhay at the discretion of the minister. And in regard he doth now freely offer to part with Roundhaye and profits thereof, towards the maintenance of a minister in the new Parish Church, we think it fit that he has the sole nomination of the first minister that shall be presented thereto." (sic)

Thus it came about that sanction was granted for a Perpetual Cure and Benefice, the Church to be known as "Saint John's Forever" and that permission was given also to build a house for the residence of the Minister.

An Act of Parliament (5 George IV cap.21) was passed in April 1824 and the building was started in September of the same year.

The Pulpit

THE ARCHITECT

The architect of the Church was Thomas Taylor whose buildings were almost exclusively churches. It seems that he first established contact with the Nicholsons when he built the Union Bank, Commercial Street, the property of Thomas Nicholson, William Williams Brown, Timothy Rhodes & Co., and that later he was responsible for alterations or additions to the Mansion. St John's Church was the last erection supervised personally by Taylor.

The plan of the Church showed that it would be of the Gothic order, built in the form of a cross, with transept and a gallery at the west end where it was proposed to erect an organ. It was, in fact, a copy of Christ Church, Woodhouse, near Huddersfield.

The first stone was laid on September 22nd 1824 and was an occasion of some ceremony and ostentation. The inscription on the plate which covered the deposit, read by the Rev. G. Walker and sealed by Taylor, read :-

"The first stone of the church to be called St. John's Church at Roundhay, was laid on the 22nd day of September in the year of our Lord 1824 by the Rev. William Hiley Bathurst, M.A. Rector of Barwick in Elmet and late student of Christ Church Oxford. This church was built and endowed by Stephen Nicholson Esquire of Roundhay, the patronaqe of which is vested in him and his heirs forever by Special Act of Parliament obtained in the filth year of the reign of his majesty George the Fourth. Thomas Taylor Arch-itect."

The Rev. W. H. Bathurst delivered anr address in which, speaking of the long need of such a church and the sad decay of piety where no such churches existed, he evpressed his pleasure at seeing wealth, ("which had been so rapidly accumulated in this favoured country") not all expended on luxury and pnde.

Ale. roast beef and plum pudding were lavishly handed out to children, wives and workmen, comprising some three or four hundred.

Thomas Taylor died in March 1826 not yet fifty years of age. The "Leeds Intelligencer" of that year noted that though his active life in church building spanned only twelve years, in that bnef period, he crowd-ed into it more churches than any other architect of the time. St. Mary's Quarry Hill was also one of his buildings.

THE CONSECRATION

The "Leeds Intelligencer" of Thursday January 19th 1926 reported the consecration of the Church as follows :-

"Consecration of St. John's Church Roundhay."
"On Monday the new church lately erected at Roundhay by Stephen Nicholson Esq., Patron, was consecrated by the Diocesan of the province under the title of St. John ….. The Archbishop arrived at the Church a little before 12 o'clock. The service proceeded….. to the end of the general thanksgiving vhere instead of the prayer there inserted, the Archbishop read the followinq :-

'Blessed be Thy name, 0 Lord, that if hath pleased Thee to put it into the heart of Thy servant Stephen
Nicholson to erect this house to Thy honour and worship. Bless O Lord him, his family and substance, accept the work of his hand; remembering him concerning this; wipe not out the kindness that he hath shewed for the house of his God and the Offices thereof; and grant that all who shall enjoy the benefit of this pious work may shew forth their thankfulness by making a right use of it, to the Glory of Thy Blessed Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.'

"The service was continued to the end of the 100th Psalm, when the Rev. Hiley Bathurst, Rector of Barwick-in-Elmet, the parish in which St. John's of Roundhay is situated, preached from psalm cxxii, 'I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the House of the Lord.'

"The service having concluded, the Archbishop, his Chancellor, Chaplain and the Clergy walked up the Centre of the Church and out of the south front door to consecrate the burial ground. Within a few yards of the south entrance, the Chancellor again read the Act of Consecration, as in the Church, which stated that the edifice contained upward of 300 sittings and gave licence to marry, baptise and bury.

"The Church was crowded to excess. The congregation was composed of almost all the families of Roundhay; scarcely any, either rich or poor were absent and numbers of ladies and gentlemen from Leeds and the surrounding neighbourhood wore present. When the service commenced it was found necessary to close the doors, as it was quite impracticable to keep the centre aisle clear without such a measure; they were opened soon afterwards and the church was quite filled; notwithstanding which it is truly pleasing to remark that the congregation conducted themselves with the most profound reverence for the solemnity of the place.

"The west gallery was almost filled with children who observed with the greatest order.

"The workmen and children repaired after the ceremony to the schoolroom, near the premises of the hospitable patron of the church, where they were regaled with ample supplies of roast beef and ale and the children with a plum cake each.

"The whole of the day passed off in a manner well calculated to impress on the minds of such as beheld the scene, the importance of the benefits to be conferred upon the neighbourhood by the erection of the structure"

1. Local lore has it that Mr. Nicholson built the almshouses as an act of reparation after his gamekeeper, been mistaken for an intruder at the Mansion late one night, was shot and killed. Such an incident did take place on the 19th May 1840 ("Annals of Yorkshire" Mayhall) when Charles George Thompson, gamekeeper to Mr. Stephen Nicholson was shot and killed by Mr. W. N. Nicholson (nephew of Mr. Stephen) in circumstances described above.

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