Chapter 10 examined a range of places of worship constructed during the wars with France, often modest in architectural ambition or stylistic statement. But this was not the whole picture. The early nineteenth century witnessed the beginnings of a serious Gothic Revival, and in this chapter two areas at the forefront of the shift to Gothic are examined: West Yorkshire and Liverpool. Here, passionate advocates of that style can be identified and, very usefully, their opinions have been recorded, providing valuable insights into the new thinking.

Although financial anxieties generated by the French wars are widely seen as discouraging building projects, some regions of the country avoided retrenchment. It is surely significant that the industries and commerce of the two areas discussed in this chapter generally prospered during the wars. And where funding was available, especially if it coincided with stylistic leadership, some absolutely remarkable churches were erected.

West Yorkshire, c.1790–1810

To provide context for an examination of church building in both the areas discussed in this chapter, it is necessary briefly to return to the 1790s. West Yorkshire saw a substantial increase in the population caused by the demand for industrial labour in the woollen industry. In Leeds, for instance, between 1801 and 1821 it increased from 53,276 to 83,943. As in other regions, 1790s church building in West Yorkshire was dominated by Classical schemes erected in fashionable suburbs, but by around 1810, a stylistic shift is discernible. It was a move led, interestingly, from outside the mainstream of the architectural profession. An examination of what was built in the 1790s provides a helpful context for what came in the new century's second decade.

The opening of Horbury's new Classical church in May 1794 was recorded in the Leeds Intelligencer: ‘This beautiful structure … is allowed to be the handsomest building of its size in the country. The spire is truly elegant and the body of the church is rendered perfectly commodious’ (Fig. 11.2). It is indeed ‘handsome’, but in one respect it is unique: never before had an architect designed a church and then paid for its erection, in this case around £8,000. John Carr had enjoyed an unusually lucrative career and in old age presented a new church to the village that had been his family's home, recognising that the old one was decayed and too small.