The church dates from 1873 by George Goldie and Charles Edwin Child.

The church was opened by Cardinal Henry Edward Manning on 5 June 1873.

[4][5] One of the priests of St Robert's was the secessionist from Anglicanism, Canon William Pope.

[6] The Lady Chapel was added in 1906 by Marten of Leeds.

The church, including its plaster relief Stations of the Cross panels, was consecrated on 10 May 1930, by Bishop Joseph Cowgill of Leeds.