Church of St Leonard

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SYSONBY GRANGE LANE (east side) Church of St Leonard

(Formerly listed as CHURCH OF ST MARY, previously listed as SYSONBY GRANGE LANE, SYSONBY CHURCH)

12-OCT-76

GV II DATES OF MAIN PHASES, NAME OF ARCHITECT: C15-C16 church restored in 1892.

MATERIALS: rubble and dressed ironstone, with graded slate roofs.

PLAN: nave and chancel under a single roof, west tower, north-west vestry.

EXTERIOR: a small, simple Gothic church of unusual configuration. The tower dominates the exterior, narrow and tall under a transverse saddleback roof on a very small scale, and with low set-back buttresses in the lower stage. It has a plain west lancet and small round-headed gable windows. Nave and chancel are buttressed, of which one buttress is dated 1915. In the south wall is a three-light square-headed window, in a larger partially blocked opening, with uncusped lights. The pointed south doorway has worn continuous hollow mouldings. The north wall has only a small two-light square-headed window. The C19 east window is three stepped lancets. The vestry has a hipped roof and mullioned windows, lending the church a domestic character on this north elevation.

INTERIOR: there is a tall plain pointed tower arch, but no chancel arch. Nave and chancel have a simple queen-post roof. Walls are unplastered. The floor is stone paved, with some C19 incised floor slabs.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: there are two furnishings of note, the C17 communion rail with turned balusters, and C18 marble baluster font; there is also fairly modern stained glass in the south window.

HISTORY: a small church of C15-C16 where the associated settlement has now vanished. It was restored in 1892 at a cost of £300 donated by Colonel Richard Dalgleish (recorded on a plaque inside the building). The north-west vestry was added in 1925.

SOURCES: G. Brandwood, Bringing them to their Knees: Church Building and Restoration in Leicestershire and Rutland 1800-1914, 2002, p 125. N. Pevsner (revised E. Williamson), The Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland, 1984, p 402.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: the Church of St Leonard, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a small late-medieval church in characteristic local materials, with a distinctive west tower. * Interior fittings of interest include C17 communion rails and C18 font.

Listing NGR: SK7385418978