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Church on Liverpool Rd/Beaufort St


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 pass this church a lot and as long as I can recall it has been empty.

 

Then a few years ago it was sold at auction and opened as a carpet sales place. however it was only open a few weeks. Then last year I noticed it been renovated, was going to ask to look inside but never got the chance as the renovation stopped and it is now abandoned again.

 

so anyone know anything about it?

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.385041,-2.615262,3a,75y,80.55t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sUirWhouzmmKin0xkX7oVIQ!2e0

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I wasn't aware that any renovations had been done on it but if there was English Heritage and the Council would have had to be consulted.  I just thought the previous occupants who rented it had moved out though.

Anyway..here's all I know about it......

It's the former St Lukes Church and is Grade II listed.

It was boarded up for ages but then in late 2012 it was rented/leased/let as offices/storage to a company called ARD Construction.

It went up for auction with Pugh Auctions (the same people that WB Council sell off their land and building through but I've no idea if the council owned it or someone else) with a guide price of £40k in December 2013 and was sold.  I wonder how much it went for as I'd have bought it for £40k if I'd known....

The auction info showed that ARD Construction had a 3 year 'let' on it starting late September 2012 which had a mutual break clause after 12 months with 6 months notice there after.  I presume they must have either had their 'let' removed or gone on their own accord if it's boarded up again.

It does sound rather nice inside, well providing everything is still in there and in tact as detailed on English Heritages website.  I'd love to sneak in for a look.  Their updated listing from 2003 detail it as....

"LISTING TEXT
 

Description: Church of St Luke

Grade: II*
Date Listed: 4 April 1975
English Heritage Building ID: 58814
171 Liverpool Road

 

704/5/90 LIVERPOOL ROAD

CHURCH OF ST LUKE
20-NOV-03

II*
Church, at present redundant and empty. 1892/3 by Bodley and Garner. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings and plain tile roof with coped gables.

Low proportions, late Gothic style with 3-light windows to nave and 2-light to chancel. Nave, north aisle, chancel and south porch.

Bell turret over chancel arch. Twin west windows and central buttress. 3-light chancel window.
INTERIOR. Extremely unusual 5-bay central nave arcade of clustered piers carrying high arches which support the nave roof collars and apex.

Western end of arcade supported by west wall and exterior buttress, east end by the chancel arch which has an elaborate carved angel keystone.

6-bay aisle arcade of squared piers with mouldings dying into them.

Boarded, painted and decorated chancel roof. Fittings removed.
The interior of this church is particularly impressive and imaginative.

There are thought to be only three medieval examples of a central nave arcade of this type in England and this example by Bodley is the most impressive of his three versions of the type and also possibly the earliest of the very few produced in the C19/C20 Gothic revival.

 

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Thanks Dizzy

 

With the info you gave me I have found it was sold for £55,000 and if I had thought about ot at the time I would have bid for it too, it was sold on behalf of administrators.

 

Yep there was a lot of activity for a short while with skips outside, then it just stopped. They left windows unboarded and now they are broken allowing water and birds in.

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Blimey that was cheap considering the plot of land is freehold too.  Saying that whoever bought it could struggle to do anything with the building with it being Grade II listed.

Now call my cynical but leaving the windows unboarded leading them to be broken by vandals etc which then allows water, damp, birds and possibly other vandals inside too is a pretty good way to ensure a Grade II building falls into disrepair, gets trashed or maybe even worse is set on fire or something.  Just think how many houses could be squeezed on there EEK !!

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I looked on the councils planning pages and there was a 'full' planning application submitted for it in 2014 (ref 2014/24807) but no idea what it was for.  The application reference shows is detailed in brief in the councils interactive planning map and says 'received' and 'Listed Building Consent - Application for listed building consent for ....'  (the dots are how it appears not me being lazy) and further down it says "Listed Building Consent to Alter/Extend" but when you type the same reference number into their main planning page to see the documentation relating to it it returns a search saying  'No Applications Found'

I wondered if maybe it had been withdrawn but then surely the status would be 'withdrawn' rather than 'received'. 

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There had been several applications over the years including light industrial unit, residential use and the last one gymnasium, but that was in 2008.

 

It make a great house, a cool restaurant or a fab retail unit. Anyone in Bold St, pop into the little church next door to Napier Solicitors, it is now a kitchin sales showroom but the building looks beautiful inside.

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I had no idea Sha but your question did get me wondering too so I decided to find out.... after all what else would I have to do on a Friday night :lol::wink:

It's all a bit confusing (to me anyway) as like said on here previously the freehold Grade II listed Church went up for auction in Dec 2014 and was SOLD.

Now having been sold you would presume that there would be records held with Land Registry pertaining to the sale and the actual church building and the land it sits on.... but the only record filed with Land Registry pertains to the entire large plot of land that the church sits on (exact same plot as detailed the auction listing too for the freehold church so the right one) but no mention at all of the building or any other record relating to it.

Surely if the church was being sold as freehold then the land and building were part of the same sale and went together.

Anyway here's what I found and remember this ONLY relates to the record held for the LAND.

The filed Title Register and Title Plan show that freehold LAND is now owned by Zholia Alemi, (address in Huddersfield)

This person/company gained Title Absolute on 1 Jan 2014 (so a month after the auction listing so I presume they are the people who bought it ) and the price paid was £55k

It also shows that in 2005 a transfer of the land was first made between (1) Church Commissioners for England.... and... (2) BWF Holdings Ltd ... and that it contained covenants (none of which are listed but it says copy filed)

Like I said I just don't get why there would be a new filing of details only relating to the freehold land but nothing relating the the church building if they were both up for auction as a package? 
I'm sure there must be a logical reason but my brain cell just can't think what it might be.




 

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