Church of St Leonard is a Grade II* listed building in the Ribble Valley local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 February 1967. House.

Church of St Leonard

WRENN ID
grey-minaret-thistle
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Ribble Valley
Constituency
Pendle and Clitheroe MP: Jonathan Hinder (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
13 February 1967
Type
House
Address
Church of St Leonard, Downham
OS grid reference
SD 784 443
Coordinates
53.89447, -2.32966
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Leonard, built in 1910 by Sir Mervyn McCartney, features a west tower dating from the late 15th century. Constructed from sandstone rubble with a slate roof, the church includes a west tower, a nave and chancel under a continuous roof, a south aisle, and a south porch. The tower is adorned with diagonal buttresses and an oversailing embattled parapet that has corner pinnacles and two gargoyles on both the north and south sides. The bell openings consist of two cinquefoiled lights with outer casement moulding, set beneath a pointed head with a hood. The west window has a pointed Tudor-arched head, an outer casement moulding, and three cinquefoiled lights. The west door features a pointed head, casement moulding, and a hood. Each of the two windows in the south aisle has three cinquefoiled lights under a Tudor-arched head, while the eastern bay is gabled and has a three-light window with cusped intersecting tracery. The inner and outer porch doors have chamfered jambs and moulded pointed arches. The east window comprises five cusped lights under a Tudor-arched head.

Inside, the three-bay arcade leading to the south aisle has pointed arches of two chamfered orders. The nave bays and aisle bays are separated by chamfered ashlar strips. The chancel arch is pointed and chamfered, with additional arches opening from the chancel to a north organ chamber and south chapel. The nave and chancel feature boarded barrel roofs. The east window contains stained glass made by Ralph and Richard Assheton in 1869. The octagonal sandstone font, resembling early 16th-century designs, has sides with shields, two of which are decorated—one with the Legs of Man and the other with a chevron between three fleurs de lys. Memorials to the Assheton family include a wall tablet to Frances Annabella, who died in 1835, created by Westmacott, featuring a seated figure in relief.

Local climate

Church of St Leonard sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,310 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 91% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 53 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 93% of listed buildings. Of these, 29 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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