Church Micro 12752 . . . Ilkley - All Saints
Note: the given coordinates are for the starting point
The cache, a black 35mm film canister, is hidden just outside the grounds of this ancient and attractive church which is a notable historic feature at the centre of Ilkley.
Step 1: make your way to the front gate of the church on the south side @ N 53 55.579 W 1 49.462 where at the rear of the western stone gate-post you will find a small plaque. Apart from learning the name of the gate, you will read on this that the gate was restored in 199A (where A is the number required)
Step 2: ascend the steps up to the main church entrance door @ N 53 55.581 W 1 49.462 on the left side of this at around head height you will see a carved stone head of a religious figure - presumably a bishop. On his mitre (headgear) you will see B crosses
Step 3: from here head for N 53 55.594 W 1 49.425 the location of a wooden bench placed in memory of Barbara Elizabeth Simms who passed away in 200C
Step 4: move across the grass to the side door @ N 53 55.595 W 1 49.438 on which is installed a security keypad with 1D buttons
Step 5: now go around the corner to the north side of the church where @ N 53 55.596 W 1 49.448 the location of a set of 4 graves of the Snowdon family each with fine inscriptions and elaborate decorative motifs. John Snowdon's grave records that he was the Vicar of Ilkley for 3E years
Step 6: continue heading west to N 53 55.593 W 1 49.460 where, if you look up on the church wall, you will see a light with F glass panels
Step 7: head on and around the corner to N 53 55.587 W 1 49.472 a small paved area with a damaged tiled sun-dial in the centre. On the eastern side of this you will see G large stone pinnacles which once adorned the top of the church tower.
Step 8: finally move across to N 53 55.591 W 1 49.476 the location of a row of old headstones amongst which is a simple small headstone for William Nicholls who left this world in 1H52
The cache is hidden a short distance away at:
N 53 55.E(A-F)(C-B) W 1 49.(H-B)G(D+5)
Check your coordinates here:
The Parish Church of All Saints' is an active evangelical Anglican parish church in the archdeaconry of Bradford and the Diocese of Leeds. It is constructed of dressed sandstone with a graded slate roof on one of the most historic sites in the town dating from the 8th century.
It is built on the site of a a Scheduled Ancient Monument - Roman fort, founded in 80 AD. The fort was built to guard a junction in the Roman road system, at the point where a north-south route, across the Wharfe, met one of the main east-west trans-Pennine roads, from Ribchester to York.
At that junction a civilian settlement, or vicus, also developed, principally along the east-west road, now approximately the line of The Grove, and was known as Olicana. When the fort was abandoned, Anglo-Saxon settlers reused the stone to build the first church on the site.
In post-Roman times part of the fort area became a Christian burial ground - as evidenced from the exceptionally fine (Grade 1 listed) 9th century Anglo-Saxon crosses decorated with dragons and other strange creatures, which stood in various parts of the churchyard, were later brought together on the south side and finally housed at the base of parish church tower. They are thought to have come from a stone-masons’ workshop in Otley c770-870. They are significant in the quality of their carving and their symbolism. The imagery is both pagan and Christian, reflecting the traditional time of their origin.
Adjacent to the crosses are several former Roman altars discovered in 1925, of great regional importance, having been recut to form Anglo-Saxon doorway or window lintels in an earlier building providing a good example of the re-use and modification of Roman artefacts within Christian buildings.
By the 10th century (and possibly from the late 7th century) Ilkley was part of the Archbishop of York’s Wharfedale estates, centred on Otley.
The archbishops seem to have lost most of Ilkley to other landowners in the late 10th century, and the church and priest recorded there in 1086 are likely to have belonged to the Norman lord William de Percy. It is probable that the Anglo-Saxon and Norman manorial halls were also located on the fort site.
The church is presumably also on the site of its Anglo Saxon predecessor. The construction of both the medieval manor house to the west and the church made extensive use of the Roman building materials available.
It was largely rebuilt in the 15th century, though it incorporates a 13th century south doorway - the earliest 
part of the church - with fine dogtooth-work ornamentation. The nave dates back to the 14th century - it was lengthened and the eastern parts of the church were rebuilt in 1861 (see also below).
The tower arch is 14th century and the tower is 15th century. In the north chapel is a white-painted 14th century effigy of a knight, probably Sir Peter Middleton (d 1336). The font is old – perhaps Anglo-Saxon, perhaps medieval – with a Jacobean cover.
At the west end of the north aisle is the Watkinson family pew, an enclosed box pew of the type often made for families of note, dated 1633. The present stained softwood pews, originally introduced on a temporary basis, date from 1861.
There are many small commemorative brass plaques of the 16th-18th centuries. The crucifixion east window is by William Warrington (1861). One north aisle window shows the Angel of the Resurrection by J. Henry Dearle for Morris & Co (1922).
The church was extended and restored between 1860 and 1861 by Bradford architects Mallinson & Healey. The nave was lengthened by one bay, the south porch was rebuilt 10 feet out and a new chancel with organ chamber and vestry was added. The aisles were laid with stone and new open pews were put on low wooden platforms. Much of the existing building remained, the old stone was reused and the general medieval appearance of the church was retained.
The vestry was extended in 1927 and subsequently converted into a war memorial chapel following the Second World War. It was grade II* listed on 18 July 1949.
The church is mainly in Tudor-Gothic style and has a three-stage perpendicular tower with diagonal buttresses and a clock on the south face. The nave has 5 light clerestory windows on the south side and 4 light windows dating from 1880 on the north.
Its 4-bay arcades have octagonal piers. It is stone-tiled, the chancel has mosaic tiles and the walls are exposed stone. It has an undecorated medieval tub font on a 19th-century pedestal. The square wooden pulpit dates from 1889 and has centre panels depicting of Jesus and the disciples.
See here for a short video on bell-ringing at the church.
See here for a photos including a set of 360 degree views of the church.
See here for a fascinating blog on the Anglo-Saxon cross-shafts originally in the churchyard but later moved inside the church for their future protetction.
See here for information on the latest redevelopment work carried out at the church
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