Church Of St Leonard

The Church of St Leonard is a building of significant group value, dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries, with later additions in the 14th, 15th, and 20th centuries. It was extensively restored in 1871 and 1894, and a vestry block was added in 1970 by Pace of York. The church is primarily constructed of irregular sandstone rubble in the earliest sections, coursed rubble in the chancel, and ashlar elsewhere. Stone slates cover the porch roof, while other roofs are lead.

The church comprises a west tower with a spire, a three-bay nave with a south porch and a 20th-century vestry adjoining the tower, and a two-bay chancel. The tower features a triple-chamfered plinth, a three-light west window with a hoodmould, and a clock on its south side. A string course sits beneath the two-light belfry openings, above which is another string with gargoyles, leading to an embattled parapet and a recessed, crocketted spire with a weathervane.

The nave's gabled porch has a moulded plinth and a quadrant-moulded arch. Two three-light Perpendicular windows with hoodmoulds are present on the south side, with quoins marking the blocked south doorway. The upper walling is ashlar, and a moulded parapet copings and cross top the east gable. A round-arched north doorway is set within a 20th-century ashlar extension to the west of the original short nave. The chancel is narrower and lower, with a chamfered plinth. It includes a 19th-century priest’s door beneath a restored medieval niche and a weathered carving. The south side has a restored three-light window with geometrical tracery and a square-headed two-light window with ogee-shaped transoms. The upper walling was renewed in the 20th century, and the parapet mirrors that of the nave. The east window is a restored Decorated-style four-light window flanked by offset buttresses.

Inside, the chancel and tower arches have been renewed. The nave roof features framed, moulded, cambered tie-beams. A 14th-century effigy is set against the south wall of the tower, and another is within the 20th-century vestry. A niche at the south-east end of the nave contains the tomb of Ralph Reresby (died 1530), featuring an incised depiction of a knight, as well as a reredos with arms and a Latin inscription. A table tomb, now cut in half, is fixed in the south-east corner of the chancel. The nave and chancel contain an excellent sequence of wall monuments, ranging from the late 16th to the early 19th centuries. Notable examples include a monument to Lionel Reresby and his wife Anne (died 1587), featuring kneelers beneath a canopy, and monuments to Sir John Reresby I (died 1668) and his son Sir John II. A Reresby brass commemorates 1668 near the chancel arch. Restored 15th-century stained glass is found in the easternmost window of the nave's south wall.