Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of St Mary Magdalene, Leinthall Starkes

Parish church, originally built in the 12th century with alterations made in the 13th and 15th centuries, and restored in 1876. The building is constructed of sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings, rendered at the east end, and covered with plain tiled roofs. It comprises a continuous two-bay nave, a single-bay chancel, a south porch, and a west bellcote. A west porch or annexe formerly extended the full width of the building.

The west end of the nave features a large central 19th-century buttress with offsets. High in the gable apex is a 12th-century round-headed light, positioned there because of the former annexe. Below this is a chamfered string course situated about 12 feet above ground, terminating in corbels approximately three feet from the ends of the wall. Another corbel survives at the south end.

The north elevation contains an eastern 12th-century round-headed light and at the western end a pair of 13th-century cusped lights, completely restored externally. The south elevation displays a partly restored 15th-century window of three lights with a four-centred head. The south doorway is 12th-century, with plain square jambs and a round head. Attached to a 19th-century door is part of a 14th-century cusped ogee-arched head enriched with rosette reliefs.

The south porch dates to circa 1876 and is gabled and timber-framed on a rubble base. It features scalloped bargeboards, two chamfered arch-braced tie-beam trusses, and three cusped pointed openings on each side, the lower halves of which are boarded. The west bellcote is of uncertain date and has been restored on its west face. It is gabled and pierced by two round-headed openings, each containing a single hanging bell.

The chancel's rear arch and east gable have been rebuilt. The east wall and north wall each contain a 12th-century round-headed light. The south elevation has a pair of 13th-century cusped lancets and an early 13th-century blocked doorway with a pointed head and roll-moulded jambs.

The interior features a 15th-century nave roof with arch-braced collar trusses and cusped wind-braces forming two and a half tiers of lozenge-shaped panels. The sawn-off ends of former tie-beams are situated beneath eaves level. The chancel roof is a 19th-century copy. The truss at the junction of nave and chancel has a tie-beam set beneath it, supported on cusped brackets pierced with trefoils and quatrefoils, with boarding above the tie-beam and slit openings.

Two corbels flank the altar, probably formerly supporting small figures. Another corbel in the upper part of the side walls may have supported a former roof truss. The small reredos is possibly 17th-century and takes the form of a six-bay round-headed timber blind arcade with scrolled detail on its upper part. A 17th-century altar table has chamfered legs and shaped top rails. The rood screen dates to around 1500 and features thin traceried arcading, moulded mullions, beam and rail. The 13th-century circular font has been entirely retooled. The pulpit is 19th-century. The side walls of the nave contain re-used late 17th-century or early 18th-century panelling.

The church contains two 17th-century ledger slabs in the nave: one to Thomas Goodere, died 1692, and one to Anne Goodere, died 1695.