St Peter's Church, Harrogate

The church was formed out of the parish of Christ Church, High Harrogate.

A subscription for the erection of the church was commenced and the foundation stone was laid in April, 1870. The church is of the decorated style of architecture, from a design by Mr. Hirst, of Bristol, and consists of a nave of five bays, 70 feet in length by 27 feet in breadth, with north and south aisles, each 15 feet 9 inches wide; the last bay at the eastern end of the aisle on each side projects outwards to double its former breadth, in the form of a transept, which is gabled outwardly; the chancel will be about 35 feet in length by 22 feet in breadth, terminating in a circular apse, the interior of which will be arcaded. A tower, bearing a spire, is situate at the west end of the south aisle. The living is a curacy or vicarage, the income of which is £100 a year, paid by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The first incumbent - the Rev. L. F. W. Foote - appointed in 1870.[1]

The chancel, with a temporary nave, was consecrated on Sunday 10 September 1871 by Reverend Bishop Ryan, vicar of Bradford.[2]

• Lundy Edward William Foote 1870 - 1922
• John Manstead Cunningham 1922 - 1937
• Gascoigne Cecil Clare 1937 - 1947 (formerly vicar of St Edmund's, Roundhay, Leeds)
• Roger Holford Baines 1947 - 1967
• Andrew Neville Burn Sugden 1967 - 1987
• Anthony Michael Shepherd 1987 - 2015
• Alan Garrow 2016 - present

The church has a pipe organ which has evolved over a long period of time from an original organ by Edmund Schulze in 1867. This was moved to St Bartholomew's Church, Armley and a smaller organ installed in 1869. There have been restorations by Brindley & Foster, Abbott & Smith, Binns, J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd, and Prested.

A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

St Peter's has a fine ring of eight bells in the tower which were cast by John Taylor of Loughborough. They achieved a certain notoriety when they became the first tower in the United Kingdom to have an injunction made on the bells for an offence of noise pollution.