Church Of St Leonard

The Church of St Leonard is a small church with late 14th and 15th century origins, located in Willey. The chancel was rebuilt, and a vestry and south porch were added, along with renewed parapets, in 1884, funded by the Reverend F.M. Payler. The tower and part of the nave are constructed of sandstone ashlar, while the remainder is sandstone rubble with limestone dressings. The chancel and porch feature moulded cornices, and the roofs are covered in stone slate with coped gable parapets and gablet kneelers. The nave roof is concealed by an embattled parapet.

The church comprises a three-bay nave, a two-bay chancel, a west tower, a south porch, and a north vestry. The chancel has buttresses flush with the east wall, housing a three-light east window with curvilinear tracery and a cross finial. A moulded trefoiled-arch south doorway has a hood mould with shield stops, leading to a plank door. There are cinquefoiled lancets to the north and south, and a two-light southwest window with simple tracery. The vestry has quoins, while the north side features paired segmental pointed lancets, and a round chimney stack at the gable apex. A chamfered segmental-arched west doorway has a plank door. A half-octagonal rood loft stair turret between the vestry and nave has a renewed upper portion with an embattled parapet. The nave has a splayed plinth, and the south side features three buttresses of two offsets. The porch includes buttresses flush with the front, a doorway of two run-out chamfered orders with a hood mould, and a gable with a blind trefoil. A chamfered doorway and plank door lead inside. Straight-headed Perpendicular windows of three lights with hood moulds are present to the east on both north and south sides, with smaller lights to the west. A north doorway is blocked.

The tower is of three stages. It has a splayed and moulded plinth, and splays between stages. The first stage has a four-centred west window. The second stage contains a quatrefoil opening to the south. The third stage has bell openings with hood moulds and remains of carved stops, along with an embattled parapet featuring gargoyles. West windows and bell openings have cusped Y-tracery.

The interior is plastered, with the chancel constructed of colourwashed brick and a boarded roof. A piscina is present. The 19th-century chancel arch has an outer continuous chamfer and an inner order with half-octagonal responds. The nave has a four-centred rood loft stair doorway with a plank door and a chamfered Tudor-arched doorway above. The tower arch consists of two segmental pointed orders. The nave roof features 16th-century timbers, with carved wall posts and head corbels. Fittings include 19th-century altar rails, stalls and a font. A disused 14th-century font has a round bowl and an octagonal base. A 17th-century altar table and an old plank chest are also present. Monuments on the nave’s north wall include a reworked tomb recess with a moulded segmental pointed arch; remains of an early 14th-century effigy, depicting a half-length figure and enriched ogee quatrefoils forming part of a cross; and a 17th-century funeral helm and breast plates. The rebuilding cost £1500.