A Viking Network Project

Leeds Parish Church and some of my Ancestors

By Samantha Jane Turner, year 5, Rodley, Primary School, Leeds

Leeds Parish Church of St. Peter is at the eastern end of Kirkgate. There has probably been a church here for well over I 000 years. People have found parts of stone crosses here from the 9th and 10th Centuries. The Normans may have built a church here but fire destroyed part of it about 400 years later. This older church was demolished in 1837 and the present one was then built.

My great-great-great-great-great grandfather was born about 1765. He was called James Rhodes. He married Mary Sugden on 7th November 1786, at Leeds Parish Church. Mary and James had a son, also called James. He was bom in 1789 and baptised at Leeds Parish Church. On 21st February 1814 he married Hannah Dickinson at Leeds Parish Church. James and Hannah had nine children. One of these was John Rhodes, born in 1822. He was my great-great-great grandfather and was baptised at Leeds Parish Church. He married Ellen Habbishaw at this church in 1845. She died and John married again, but not at Leeds Parish Church.

Updated September 1, 1996 - The Viking Network