Church Of St Leonard

The Church of St Leonard is a church dating from the mid to late 18th century, with substantial alterations and Gothic Revival additions made in 1873. It is constructed of limestone ashlar, with a sill course and a moulded cornice to the north and south sides. The apse is built of rock-faced, regular coursed stone with ashlar dressings. The tile roof has coped gable parapets with moulded kneelers, ridge cresting, and a lead-covered cupola. The church combines Classical and Gothic Revival styles and consists of an apse, nave, chancel (largely in one space), a narthex, and a west cupola.

The west front is of yellow stone and features four Tuscan pilasters and a pediment surmounted by a cupola. A moulded six-panelled door is set within a moulded stone architrave and cornice. The cupola has round-arched bell openings and a finial with a weathervane. The polygonal apse, dating from 1873, has a splayed plinth and sill course, with two-light windows featuring simple plate tracery and a continuous hood mould. The apse’s hipped roof has a metal finial. The north and south sides feature a two-light chancel window with plate tracery and hood mould, along with paired lancets also with a continuous hood mould. The narthex has small lancets, with a single light below on the north side.

Inside, the Early English style chancel incorporates a triple shaft and a stiff leaf sill frieze to the apse. It has an elaborately painted rib vault depicting Christ in Majesty, angels, and decorative patterns, alongside a piscina and sedilia with trefoiled round arches and granite shafts. The apse arch comprises two moulded orders, the outer with shafts, the inner with colonnettes and stiff leaf and head capitals, and a stiff leaf frieze to the outer part of the chancel. Windows throughout have attached shafts, and the interior features a painted, panelled, deep coved and barrel vaulted roof with a roof truss on colonnettes forming the chancel arch. The nave has a panelled crown post roof. The west wall has three arches with a gallery in the upper part. Double six-panelled doors are round-arched. The gallery fronts have two fielded panels and a dentil cornice.

Important fittings include an 18th-century stone font with a baluster stem, a gadrooned base, and a leaf-moulded bowl. The octagonal pulpit has marquetry and a dentil cornice, and there are fielded panelled box pews. A screen, lectern, chancel stalls, and altar rails were added in 1873. A carved and gilded panel of royal arms from the 18th century is located on the gallery. The rebuilding of the church was funded by the Reverend R. Hickman.