Former Parochial Institute (now Vineyard House), Bennett Road
Who is it, and why? Not surprisingly, some see this scene on the former Parochial Institute as St George and the Dragon. But George was not the only saint who fought a dragon. The Bible tells us: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not;” (Revelation, Chapter 12, verses 7-8). In the war in heaven, Saint Michael the Archangel leads the loyal angels and casts out Satan, the Devil, portrayed as a dragon, and his rebel angels. The parish church of Headingley has been dedicated to St Michael almost certainly since the 17th century, when the original chapel was built. So when the Parochial Institute was built in 1884, it’s clear that it was St Michael who was represented on the main entrance.
JW Appleyard, Ivanhoe Clock, 1878, Thornton’s Arcade, Leeds
Who did it, and why? The sculpture is signed “APPLEYARD/FECIT/1884” on the underside of a stone in the bottom right, below the dragon’s back foot (‘fecit’ means ‘made it’). John Wormald Appleyard was a successful sculptor in Victorian Leeds.
His best-known work is the group of life-size figures who strike the hour on the famous ‘Ivanhoe’ automated clock in Thornton’s Arcade. Among other work in Leeds, he also led the team of masons responsible for the internal stonework in the Municipal Buildings (now the Central Library), 1878-1884. And the Buildings were designed by George Corson, the leading Leeds architect of the day.
George Corson, Parochial Institute, 1884
Corson lived in Headingley, so he was an obvious choice when he was commissioned to design the Institute. And it’s not surprising therefore that he engaged Appleyard for the sculpture over the main entrance.
Sadly, the shaft of St Michael’s spear was stolen for the copper in the 1970s.
For a biography of Appleyard, see Eveleigh Bradford, ‘John Wormald Appleyard, 1831-1894, Stonemason and sculptor’, on the Thoresby Society website, at https://www.thoresby.org.uk/content/people/appleyard.php
For illustrations of Appleyard’s work, see Linda O’Carroll, ‘John Wormald Appleyard’ on Wikipedia, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wormald_Appleyard
For George Corson, click here.
Richard Tyler
Headingley Development Trust, 2025
