Mount St Mary's smashed altar

Image: © philld Taken: 10 May 2008

Mount Saint Mary's church opened in 1857 and was funded by the Irish Community. It stands in a district of Leeds traditionally known as the Bank. The Bank had become home to a large community of Irish Catholics who had emigrated to Leeds to seek work building canals and railways. The church was also known as the Famine Church, the original chapel was established at a time when Ireland was only beginning to recover from the Great Hunger brought on by the failure of the potato crop in successive years from 1845 to 1851. During the 1970's and 80's the congregation dwindled and the cost of keeping the church open wasn't feasible. The church closed its doors for the last time in 1989 and was de-consecrated by the Catholic church. *To see many more full size pictures of my Mount St Mary's collection see http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=265602590&blogID=389969200 Here*

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