Church of St Mary is a Grade II* listed building in the Shropshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 June 1958. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Mary
- WRENN ID
- north-bonework-flax
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Shropshire
- Constituency
- South Shropshire MP: Stuart Anderson (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 13 June 1958
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Mary, Leebotwood
- OS grid reference
- SO 470 986
- Coordinates
- 52.58329, -2.78275
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating back to the 13th century, with significant alterations made in 1829. It is constructed of roughly coursed red and grey sandstone rubble with grey sandstone ashlar dressings, and has a slate roof. The church comprises a nave and chancel under a single roof, and a west tower.
The tower has two stages, a set-back to the belfry, and a plain parapet with string and coping. It features louvred paired stubby chamfered lancet belfry openings, a west window with three chamfered lancets of equal height with intersecting leaded tracery, and a pointed-arched west doorway with a boarded door. The nave and chancel have a coved stone eaves cornice and a parapeted gable end to the west, with kneelers, coping, and a cross at the apex. The south side includes a pilaster buttress to the left, a central group of three chamfered lancets, and a pair of chamfered lancets to the right. A probably 16th-century moulded Tudor-arched priest's doorway is set off-centre to the right with a boarded door. A partly blocked 13th-century chamfered-arched south doorway is to the left, with an inserted leaded window. The north side features a pair of chamfered lancets off-centre to the right. The east end has a stepped triple chamfered lancet and a small 13th-century chamfered lancet in the apex of the gable.
The interior features a five-bay roof, largely 19th century, with one 17th-century truss in the chancel and a 15th-century moulded arch-braced collar truss with carved dragons in the spandrels. There are pairs of chamfered purlins and elaborately cusped wind braces in one bay forming a foiled shape, along with a 19th-century billet frieze. A chamfered tower arch is present without imposts.
The church contains a west gallery with a 16th or 17th-century roll-moulded beam and a 19th-century balustrade with stick balusters; an early 19th-century three-bay chancel screen featuring square Tuscan columns and pilasters; panelled box pews dating from 1776, ramped up to the screen, with H-hinges, names of farms, and some reused 17th-century fluted panels; an early 18th-century hexagonal wooden pulpit with tall raised and fielded panels and a moulded cornice; a reader's desk and clerk’s pew also likely dating from 1776; a circular stone font dating to circa 1843 with a moulded base; a late 19th-century ashlar reredos with carved frieze and pierced cresting; probably early 19th-century altar rails on three sides with stick balusters; and side benches to the sanctuary. Stained glass is present in the east window, dating from circa 1854, likely by David Evans of Shrewsbury. A series of 18th and early 19th-century monuments are dedicated to the Corbett family (of Longnor Hall), including a notable large tablet monument to Sir Uvedale Corbett (died 1701), featuring a gadrooned base, flanking columns, and a swan-necked pediment with two reclining figures. Medieval wall paintings are found on the north wall of the nave.
A church on the site is first recorded in 1183. The church is notable for the completeness of its 18th and early 19th-century fittings and monuments.
Local climate
Church of St Mary receives an average of 790 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 58% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 78% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 48 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 26 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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