Church Of St Leonards

Church of St Leonards

This parish church originated in the early 12th century and stands on the east side of Church Lane in Cotheridge. The building was substantially altered in the early 15th century and underwent restoration in 1684 for Rowland Berkeley. It comprises a two-bay chancel with a former south chapel now used as a vestry, a nave, and a south tower. Construction materials are varied: the main body is partly plastered sandstone and part brick with tiled roofs, while the bell tower is timber-framed, part plastered and part weatherboarded, with a slate roof.

The south tower was added in the 15th century and rises through four stages. The lower two stages are plastered, and the upper two are weatherboarded. The lower stage features a 17th-century ten-light chamfered mullioned window in its west wall. The south wall is faced with tongued and grooved oak planks and has a central pointed arched doorway with a 15th-century planked door bearing moulded cover strips and wrought iron hinges. The second stage has two small lights divided by a single diagonal mullion. The belfry stage displays paired louvred bell chamber openings and a pyramidal roof.

The chancel's east wall retains two original pilaster buttresses and a 15th-century diagonal buttress at its south angle. Its east window, of early 15th-century date, contains four cusped lights. The south wall contains two original pilaster buttresses flanked by a 13th-century cusped lancet to the west and a 13th-century two-light window to the east. The nave's north elevation features three original pilaster buttresses and a 17th-century diagonal brick buttress; two 18th-century windows with cambered heads and leaded lights are set within original 12th-century window openings, alongside a blocked doorway opposite the main southern entrance. The west elevation has 14th-century corner buttresses and a central original pilaster buttress, with a 19th-century pointed arched window above and 18th-century windows with cambered heads and leaded lights on either side, all positioned within original openings. The south elevation contains three original pilaster buttresses and a 14th-century buttress at the east end; a late 14th-century three-light window and an original lancet are enclosed by the tower.

The vestry was built in 1620 as a chapel, constructed of brick in Old English bond. It has parapetted gable ends with moulded capings, three clasping buttresses to the north wall, and a square-headed three-light east window with a label mould and returns. A planked timber door occupies the west elevation.

The interior wall dividing the nave and chancel features a central chancel arch enriched with chevron moulding, carried on spiral columns decorated with a beaded spiral band. The columns have pointed scalloped capitals and moulded bases. On either side of the arch are window openings: the north window has a semi-circular head and the south window a four-centred arched head; both retain leaded lights. The chancel roof is probably 14th-century, featuring a central king-post and swept wind-braces. The nave has a barrel vaulted roof with moulded cornice. The vestry roof contains a central raking strut truss.

The timber framework of the south tower is constructed at its lower three stages around two pairs of massive cruck-like blades, which intersect at second-stage level. Two very long slightly curved braces cross from the first floor to third stage level, intersecting just above the main blades. At the lowest stage, the wall-frame is infilled with tongue-and-groove boarding. The second stage comprises two rows of close-set vertical studding with swept braces. The third stage contains two rows of large rectangular panels with swept and straight braces, totalling five panels from sill to wall-plate beneath the belfry. The belfry, smaller in section, is composed of small square and rectangular panels with straight braces, three from the third stage to the wall-plate.

The interior walls and ceiling of the nave, chancel, and chapel are plastered. In the nave, some plaster has been removed to expose fragments of medieval wall paintings on the north wall and wall above the chancel arch. The chancel contains a 17th-century arched doorway to the vestry, 15th and 19th-century floor tiles, and a piscina with an arched head. A 17th-century hexagonal oak panelled pulpit with tester, a dado of 17th-century panelling behind the altar, and box pews made of similar panelling are present. Late 17th-century altar rails with turned balusters and four wall memorials of mid 19th-century date stand within; the three on the north wall commemorate the Berkeley family. A mid 19th-century font is installed. The vestry window contains 17th-century painted glass depicting the arms of the Berkeley family with a label and crest of a bear's head, razed and muzzled.

At the time of survey in June 1984, the nave and south tower were out of use due to their deteriorating condition.