Church of St Leonard

Church of St Leonard

This is a parish church of Early 12th-century date, significantly extended in the early 13th, early 14th, early 15th centuries and around 1580. It was restored in 1885 and 1891. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar with a tiled roof and comprises a west tower, nave, north and south aisles, chancel, and the Sheldon Chapel to the north of the chancel.

The west tower dates from around 1400 and rises in four stages. It features diagonal stepped buttresses and a crenellated parapet with plain pinnacles, with each stage defined by string courses. The belfry stage has a window of two cinquefoiled lights under a two-centred head with label. The second stage contains a square-headed window with a crocketed label. The first stage has a large window of four cinquefoiled lights under a two-centred head with a crocketed label. The ground stage has a door with a four-centred arch of two continuously moulded orders with label.

The south aisle dates from the early 13th century but was largely rebuilt in the early 15th century. It consists of four bays. The second bay from the west contains an entrance with a four-centred arch and moulding, fronted by a 19th-century gabled timber-framed porch. The windows have cinquefoiled lights and square heads, with the easternmost window containing three lights and the others two. Above the three-light window is a restored 17th-century gabled dormer window. The west window is 19th century in date. There is no nave clerestory.

The north aisle dates from the early 14th century and comprises three bays. It has a central entrance with a four-centred head. The west window has three cinquefoiled lights under a four-centred head, and the east window has three cinquefoiled lights under a square head. A late 20th-century parish hall has been added to the north, linked by a glazed corridor to the entrance from the north side.

The chancel is of early 12th-century origin, extended in the early 13th century. It consists of two bays with 19th-century diagonal buttresses. The windows have trefoiled lights under square heads, with two lights to the west and three to the east. The east window is 19th century, containing three septfoil lights under a four-centred head.

The Sheldon Chapel dates from the late 16th century and has two bays. It contains two three-light square-headed windows. The east window has five square-headed lights under a four-centred head.

Internally, the nave has arcades of three bays. The south arcade is early 13th century with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders with label, supported on a circular pier and an octagonal pier. The north arcade is early 14th century with two-centred arches of two orders. The tower arch is tall with two continuously moulded orders. The chancel arch is 12th century, a plain semi-circular arch with impost blocks, above which is a 19th-century Romanesque window of two semi-circular headed lights. The chancel opens into the Sheldon Chapel through two memorials.

The roofs vary in date and construction. The north aisle has matchboarding to a five-bay medieval roof. The south aisle has a 19th-century lean-to roof. The nave has a 19th-century scissor-braced common rafter roof. The chancel has a 19th-century four-bay roof with arch-braced collars supporting king posts. The Sheldon Chapel has a 19th-century scissor-braced common-rafter roof with collar purlin.

Fittings include a 12th-century relief of a saint set in the south aisle wall. A 13th-century font in the north aisle has four female heads on its bowl. The Sheldon Chapel contains an important collection of Italianate monuments. Two monuments penetrate the wall to the chancel. That to the east is to William Sheldon (died 1570) and his wife Mary, comprising two recumbent stone effigies on a sarcophagus bearing numerous coats of arms, all under a four-centred arch with panelled soffit framed by detached Corinthian columns supporting a full entablature surmounted by an armorial achievement flanked by obelisks. That to the west is to Ralph Sheldon (died 1613) and his wife Anne, similar in design. In the north wall are two semi-circular tomb recesses. The eastern recess contains a table tomb to William Sheldon (died 1517) with a three-panelled front divided by Doric pilasters. The western recess contains a similar tomb to Ralph Sheldon (died 1546) with Ionic pilasters. The west wall of the chapel carries a collection of wall memorials to the Sheldon family, dated from 1613 to 1766. The altar in the chapel is of two stages, both supported on three columns, with the upper slab of black marble. On the sloping sill of the west window is a 13th-century stone coffin lid with a foliated cross.