Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This parish church was substantially rebuilt in 1714–16 but incorporates medieval plan and fabric throughout. It was restored in the mid to late 19th century. The exterior is faced in 18th-century red brick on a coursed sandstone plinth, probably of medieval date, with plain tile roofs featuring coped verges. The building comprises a nave, chancel, west belfry, south porch, and south-west vestry.

The nave is divided into two bays. On the south side is a late 19th-century two-light window with trefoil head, cusped multifoils, and trefoils above. Adjacent are an 18th-century gabled porch and a contemporary gabled vestry, both with round-headed doorways (the vestry's is blind) and pointed cast-iron windows to the sides. The north side contains two round-headed windows dating from around 1714, the western one retaining its original Y-tracery. A tall, narrow multi-paned round-headed window in the west has a similar small opening above it. The weatherboarded belfry is probably late 18th-century but was considerably restored in the late 20th century. It features twin round-headed openings (possibly 19th-century) on the north, south, and west sides, and is topped by a pyramidal roof.

The chancel has one late 19th-century narrow round-headed window on the south and a blocked segmental-headed 18th-century doorway to the west. The late 19th-century east window consists of three stepped round-headed lights with a narrow round-arched window above. The north wall is blind.

The interior's most striking feature is that the walls are of uncoursed sandstone rubble, revealing that the external 18th-century brick is merely an encasement of medieval fabric. A cambered south doorway retains its original ledged plank door. The ceiling is of 18th-century coved plaster. A west gallery, also dating from around 1714, is supported on wooden posts and features elegant turned balusters. A plain round-headed chancel arch is flanked by an 18th-century hatchment to the south and a royal coat-of-arms to the north. The late 18th-century font is urn-shaped, set on a moulded stone pillar. A contemporary hexagonal pulpit stands nearby. The east window contains late 19th-century stained glass. A restored 17th-century communion table is also present. Stone texts dating from the 18th century, one reciting the Ten Commandments, hang on the nave's north and south walls.

The church contains numerous monuments. In the nave are cast-iron floor tablets to William Browne (died 1696) and another dated 1677 with inscription panels removed. In the chancel's south side stands a late 13th-century cross-legged stone effigy of a knight, probably a member of the Leighton family, with traces of paint surviving and feet resting on a lion. On the north side is a large alabaster tomb chest with incised top slab to William Leighton (died 1520) and his wife. Large 18th-century wall memorials commemorate members of the Kynnersley and Leighton families, including one to Elizabeth Leighton (died 1754) by William Baker. Centrally positioned on the north wall is a prominent memorial to Thomas Kynnersley (died 1843), comprising a substantial pedestal with coat-of-arms and Greek key ornament to the top, surmounted by a draped urn, signed by J. Evan Thomas. Another mid-18th-century wall memorial stands south of the chancel arch in the nave. In the porch is a wooden board recording benefactions to the church. A slab on the north wall of the nave commemorates Henry Binnell, vicar (died 1717), formerly positioned below the east window outside.

A priest is recorded at Leighton in Domesday Book.