St Stephen's Parish
Serving the Catholics of Skipton, Craven and the Dales
Nave and Gallery
Entering the church, this is a single-aisle church and the main body of the church is called the nave. This term comes from the Latin navis meaning 'ship'. The ship is still a symbol of the church. Alternatively, the term may be related to the Greek word naon meaning 'temple'.
There are five windows on either side of the nave; eight are fitted with stained-glass. On pedestals between each window is a stone statue of a saint. There are seven in total and an eighth, of St Joseph, in a niche where the wooden pulpit used to stand. The pulpit was removed in 1975. The statues had wooden canopies over each of them, which were removed in 1921. There are also the 14 stations of the cross; two beneath each saint.
The stations of the cross are a meditation of Christ's journey to Calvary and is a devotion popularised in the Middle Ages allowing the Christian to focus on Christ's Passion and Death. These stations were erected in 1889 in memory of Charles Porri and begin on the west side near the altar and conclude on the east side, near the Lady Chapel.
The floor of the nave is unique in the diocese. It is mosaic, apart from where the benches are, in which case they are a hard-wood parquet in a herringbone pattern. This mosaic floor was laid in the 1930s in memory of Fr Richard Sharp SJ who had served the parish for forty years. The wooden benches were a gift of Thomas Fattorini in 1924. The entire nave is vaulted by a wooden ceiling made of Broughton oak given by Sir Charles Tempest. The dog-tooth pattern features prominently and it is modelled on the roof of Skelton Church near York.
At the south end the gallery was added around 1850 and the organ was installed in 1874. The south window was installed in the 1860s in memory of the children of Henry and Jemima Tempest. The saints depicted here are their patrons:
Top left: St Norbert, founder of the Premonstratensian Order;
Top right: St Stephen the protomartyr
Middle left: St Stephen, king of Hungary
Middle right: St Peter, first Bishop of Rome.
The bottom panels depict angels, one holding a scroll explaining the windows' significance and the other a baby boy.
The shrine to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour is on the west side of the nave between the second and third windows. Our Lady of Perpetual Succour is a Patroness of the Diocese of Leeds. This icon was blessed by Pope Leo XIII
and unveiled by Bishop Robert Cornthwaite, the first Bishop of Leeds in 1885. The shrine was erected in memory of Baldisaro Porri. It is painted in oils on wood and gilt. The wings of the tryptich are of St Stephen and St Monica, patrons of the parish.
The seven statues have been added over the years and each of them commemorates someone linked to the church. Beginning near the Icon, they are on the west side:
St Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits served in this church from 1853 - 1914.
St Patrick, apostle of Ireland. This was donated by the McGlincy family. John McGlincy was the only Catholic in Skipton when he arrived from Ireland in 1812.
St Michael the Archangel. In 1904 Pope Pius X added a prayer to the saint to be said after every Low Mass
Crossing the aisle and returning towards the porch:
St Richard of Chichester. The Myers family donated this statue in memory of Fr Richard Sharp SJ who died in 1914.
St Peter. This was donated by the Butler family.
St John the Evangelist.
St Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint and apostle to the Indies.
There are eight stained glass windows in the nave. Most of the saints depicted in the windows are name saints. Beginning from near the icon on the West side the windows are:
St Joseph and Joseph Tempest donating his chalice in 1842;
The Immaculate Conception and Jemima Tempest with her children in the lower portion of the window. Pope Pius IX had defined the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in December 1854 and the window was installed a few years afterwards;
St Henry, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1002-1024) and Henry Tempest with his children;
St Charles Borromeo in a window given by the parishioners in gratitude to Sir Charles Robert Tempest;
who had founded the church. The smaller image of him holding the church is in the lower portion of this window. It was installed in 1852.
Crossing the aisle and returning towards the porch the windows are:
St Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St Anne is the dedication of the Cathedral Church in Leeds. St Anne is depicted teaching Our Lady but, rather unusually, they are both in medieval dress;
St Barbara and Frances Barbara Tempest donating to the church;
St Catherine of Alexandria and Catherine Coulthurst.
St Monica in a window given memory of Monica Clare Tempest who built the convent. This window was installed in 1856 and signed by the glazier who made it in Brussels. A smaller image of St Clare is in the lower portion of this window.