Church Of St Leonard

The Church of St Leonard is a parish church largely dating to the 14th century, with earlier elements from the 12th century and some 17th-century additions. Constructed primarily of red sandstone with dressed stone, it features tiled roofs and verge parapets. The church consists of a tower, nave, chancel, and a south aisle and is of Decorated style.

The tower, located to the southwest, has been largely rebuilt in brickwork, likely in the 17th century, with some diapered brickwork. It stands in three stages, the lowest stage being large and incorporating both stone and brick, with thin diagonal buttresses rising through three stages. Stone strings delineate the stages, and a crenellated parapet tops the tower. Gargoyles are positioned centrally on each face, and square-headed, two-light bell chamber openings with labelled heads date to the 17th century. The west window is 14th century and contains trefoil-headed lights.

The nave, of two bays, is divided by three-stage buttresses and has been restored; it is notably wide. A 14th-century pointed doorway with quatrefoil fleurons in the coved intrados is located in the north-west bay. The west gable features a two-light gallery window above a three-light west window with curvilinear tracery and square heads. The chancel is single-bay and continuous with the nave, although the south roof has a slight pitch break. It has three-stage buttresses against the gable and a four-light window with a segmental relieving arch and trefoil-headed lights and criss-cross tracery on both the north and south sides; a distinctive design similar to that at St Mary’s, Rolleston. The east window is a four-light window with Y-tracery.

The south aisle, running into the tower to the west, has two bays with two-light, square-headed windows containing trefoil lights and an east window with curvilinear tracery.

Inside, a three-bay arcade features pointed arches on four clustered columns. A pointed chancel arch is present, and the nave roof has tie, collar, and elbowed arch braces to queen posts. The chancel has a barrel-vaulted ceiling. A 19th-century octagonal pulpit and a 15th-century-style stone octagonal font, adorned with low-relief shields, are also present. A trefoil-headed niche is found in the south aisle, and several marble plaques commemorate the Levett family, including one to John Levett, who died in 1853, featuring scrolled detailing on a ground.

The church is prominently situated on the raised south bank of the River Trent, within a small group of houses.