St Wilfrid's Church - Duncombe Place, York, UK - Roman Catholic Churches on Waymarking.com

The History of York website tells us:

A church dedicated to St Wilfrid stood not far from this site before the Norman Conquest of 1066.  But by 1585 it had fallen into disuse and was demolished.

It wasn’t until 1742 that St Wilfrid’s parish was revived.  In 1760 the first public place of worship for Catholics opened.  This chapel was discreetly hidden from the street, as anti-Catholic feeling was strong at the time.  The chapel could hold 700 people but, as the Catholic community in the city grew, plans were made for a larger church that would act as a Cathedral for the Diocese.

Foundations for the new church were laid in April 1862 and the building completed in 1864.  The new St Wilfrid’s was designed in the Gothic Revival style by the York-born architect, George Goldie.  It was considered to be ‘one of the most perfectly finished Catholic Churches in England, rich in sculpture, stained glass and fittings’.

The imposing bell tower is 147 feet high and ten bells were added in 1995.  The arch over the main door has intricately carved details.  The beautiful interior has paintings that span the end walls and an ornate domed ceiling.

St Wilfrid’s life as a cathedral was short-lived due to changes in the Diocesan boundaries, but the church still stands as the ‘Mother Church of the City of York’.  Lively worship is still offered in this church and all are welcome.

The church is Grade II listed with the entry at the English Heritage website telling us:

Catholic church. 1862-64. By George Goldie. Coursed squared yellow stone with grey ashlar bands and dressings: slate roofs with wrought-iron finials.

PLAN: 5-bay aisled nave and clerestory with polygonal apse, west gallery and narthex; south-east vestry; south-west tower; north-west Lady Chapel.

EXTERIOR: east end and north side not accessible. South side: 1-storey pent roofed aisle in front of aisle clerestory: at western end of aisle pent roofed porch projects. Porch has arched opening and diagonally boarded door on fine wrought-iron hinges in moulded 2-centred arch on squat columns with foliate capitals. Windows to east are of 1, 2 and 3 cusped lights with foiled tracery in 2-centred heads beneath coved hoodmoulds on foliate or head stops. Clerestory windows are of paired trefoil-headed lights with cinquefoil tracery in 2-centred heads. Windows to chancel are cusped lancets, paired and tripled and tied by impost string. Vestry: 2 gabled storeys. Ground and first floors have 4-pane sash windows; on first floor, surround is chamfered and has blind 2-centred head pierced with quatrefoil. Gable has circular window with cinquefoil light in centre. 4-stage tower has 2-stage setback gabled buttresses. South face lowest stage has window of 2 cusped lights in 2-centred arch with squat jamb shafts and plate tracery in the head: hoodmould on head stops. Second stage has single slit light beneath relieving arch on south and west faces: above, blind arcade of four 2-centred arches on slender colonnettes with foliate capitals. Belfry openings are paired lancets with scalloped louvres in 2-centred arches of 2 orders: columns have foliate capitals. Ballflower frieze, cornice with gargoyles, and pierced parapet with oversized crocket finial at each corner: steep hipped roof with wrought-iron finials and crucifix. West end: gabled and flanked by setback gabled buttresses, from which pyramidal pinnacles with oversized crocket finials rise on north and south sides. West door has paired part-glazed C20 doors in 2-centred arch of 4 orders with stiff-leaf capitals and richly carved soffits: outer order carried carved gabled hood. Between doors, sculpted seated figure beneath canopy rises on column pedestal: above doors, tympanum filled with high relief carvings of four scriptural scenes. Two west windows of paired lights with cinquefoils in 2-centred arches on slender colonnettes flank sculpted standing figures beneath tall crocketed canopy. Above is circular window of four foiled lights in carved surround and crocketed gable cross.

Lady Chapel: 1-storey, with polygonal end. High windows have 2-centred arches on colonnettes with waterleaf capitals. at west end is high relief carving of the Virgin and Child.

INTERIOR: north and south arcades of 2-centred arches on high round columns with moulded shaft rings and waterleaf capitals carved with angels. North wall is blind arcade on square piers with stylised foliate capitals. Clerestory windows in 2-centred arches on shafts with foliate capitals, paired above nave, tripled in chancel. Apse lined with reredos of arcaded tier of biblical busts carved in high relief over tier of carved panels, and incorporating four sculpted figures seated at lecterns beneath canopies. Above are five painted panels. Outer arches to chancel are open and filled with sculpted standing figures. Opulent altar and baldacchino. Chapel at east end of north aisle has carved stone altar in semicircular apse beneath 2-centred arch. Narthex is vaulted springing from squat columns with stylised waterleaf capitals. Above is organ gallery with plain parapet. Lady Chapel: entered through screen of trefoiled arches beneath tracery quatrefoil in 2-centred arch on columns with waterleaf capitals and hoodmould on leaf stops. Chapel fitted with richly carved panelling to sill height. Altar carved with canopied figure of the Virgin and Child and two angels. Original chairs with pierced traceried backs survive. The church was the Pro-Cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Beverley until 1879 when the See of Beverley was divided between the Dioceses of Middlesbrough and Leeds.

The church's website tells us of the times of Mass:

Saturday	10:00am (in Shrine of St Margaret Clitherow) 6:15pm (Vigil of Sunday)
Sunday	8:30am 11:00am (With Liturgy of the Word with Children) 5:00pm Extraordinary Form Latin 6:00pm Rosary and Benediction
Monday	8:00am
Tuesday – Friday	12:10pm