Church Of St Leonard

The Church of St Leonard is a medieval church, with substantial rebuilding and alterations throughout its history. The west tower was rebuilt between 1753 and 1754 by John Platt, and the rest of the church was largely rebuilt around 1815, with further modifications in the 19th century. Constructed from coursed, squared sandstone with a stone slate roof, the church comprises a four-stage west tower; a six-bay nave and chancel unified as a single space; a south porch; and a north vestry. The architectural style is Gothic Revival, incorporating some original Gothic fragments.

The tower has a chamfered plinth and large quoins, with a string course and offset at each stage. It features slit windows in the lower stages, except for a three-light mullioned window on the north side. A clock is situated on the north and south sides of the third stage, and the belfry has two-light openings with trefoil-headed, louvred lights in deeply-chamfered surrounds, topped with an embattled parapet. The nave and chancel share large quoins. Traces of an 18th-century mullioned gallery window are visible at the southwest end. The south porch has a shallow gable and is located to the left of three windows with Y-tracery in cyma-moulded surrounds. A moulded priests' door is to the left of a reset 14th-century three-light window with reticulated tracery, now lighting a south chapel. The east window is of three lights with smaller dividing lights in a Perpendicular style with Tudor-arched heads. A north vestry window has three ogee-headed lights with a relieving arch. Two stone-roofed additions extend from the north side.

Inside, a rounded chancel arch leads to flanking arches in a similar style, as well as two-bay arcades to the north and south. There are numerous wall monuments to the Stuart Wortley family of Wortley Hall, with particularly fine examples including one to Mary Wortley (died 1794) by Regnart on the south side of the east window; one to Edward Wortley (died 1761, erected 1778) on the north side; one to John Stuart Wortley (died 1797) above the central pier of the south chapel arcade; and one to Margaret Stuart Wortley Mackenzie (died 1808) by Flaxman, set within an older trefoil-headed niche with colonettes. A 19th-century wall monument to the same family is on the north wall of the nave, along with a monument to Benjamin Newton, schoolmaster (died 1816, erected 1818). Three hatchments are displayed above the south door.