All Saints Church, Bingley

I was pleased to discover that the door of the church of All Saints in Bingley was unlocked when I walked past. (This was ages ago, just before the coronavirus lockdown closed our churches. I haven't got round to posting this before now!) For the first time for several years, I went in to look round. It is sited in the oldest part of the town, near The Old White Horse, the historic coaching inn on Old Main Street. It's not a huge church but it's quite attractive inside. Some clear glass windows make the interior fairly light. There are some nice stained glass windows too but the one I really wanted to see, designed by the pre-Raphaelite artist Burne Jones, is now obscured by the church organ, which was resited in the 1960s. Very clever planning!

Some of the church dates back to the 15th century but it was restored with alterations and additions in Victorian times, as so many of our churches were. It retains the pews and Victorian carved oak screen separating the chancel from the nave.

The east window (above) over the altar has five 'lights' depicting the virtues, with some very nice faces on the figures (see below for a detail). It is the work of a stained glass artist called Henry Holiday and was made in about 1890. Its effect is rather spoiled by the protective metal grill on the outside which gives the tracery effect you can discern on the lightest areas, but I suppose sadly the threat of vandalism makes that necessary.

I don't know to whom the Annunciation window below is attributed, but it was very colourful.