Parish Church Of St Leonard

The parish church of St Leonard, originally part of the endowment of Warden Abbey, displays origins from the 12th century, with a predominantly 13th-century fabric, and details from the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, reworked in the mid and late 19th century. The building is mainly constructed of brown cobblestones with limestone dressings, with some later additions in red brick and coursed limestone, and has slate roofs. The church comprises a chancel, a north vestry, a nave, a south aisle, a south porch, and a west tower.

The chancel is largely from the 13th century, with its eastern half rebuilt in the late 19th century. It contains 19th-century east and southeast windows, a 14th-century northwest window, a southwest priest’s door with a window above and a late 13th-century chancel arch. A plain parapet tops the east end. The north vestry and organ chamber are late 19th-century additions. The north wall of the nave features a 15th-century three-light window flanked by two 14th-century two-light windows with 15th-century tracery and a 14th-century blocked doorway. An early 14th-century three-bay pointed-arched arcade opens to the south. The south aisle is from the 14th century, with a 15th-century three-light east window, a 16th-century square-headed three-light window to the southeast, and a 16th-century window to the west. An embattled parapet runs along the top, and a 19th-century doorway is located on the south side. The south porch, built in 1952 in memory of Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth (died 1940) by his mother, is timber-framed with red brick infill and a gabled tiled roof. The four-stage west tower has an embattled parapet. The base of the tower, including the tower arch, dates to the 12th century, while the remainder was rebuilt in the 15th century. The bell stage has a two-light pointed arched window without tracery on each side, with small loophole windows to the other stages. A two-light pointed arched window on the west elevation of the lower stage was inserted or reworked in the 19th century.

The interior is notable for extensive carved woodwork, primarily Flemish and English, collected by Robert Henley, 3rd Lord Ongley, and installed in 1841. A Jacobean-style gallery is situated in the south aisle. The pews are constructed from a variety of 16th- to 17th-century Belgian pieces, some with ogee-headed panels, some with acanthus scrolls, and some in the chancel with panels showing the letters 'AC' and simple strapwork. Caryatids support panelling behind the altar, and a nave roof, rebuilt in 1841, features elaborate wavy-edged timber decoration. A late 19th-century pulpit, installed by Colonel Shuttleworth and probably of 18th-century Belgian origin, contains high-relief biblical scenes. A 14th-century font originally had twelve shafts. A marble monument to Sir Samuel Ongley (died 1726), by P Scheemakers and L Delvaux, is located to the southwest of the nave, featuring a large standing figure in Roman costume flanked by putti. A tablet to Robert Henley, 2nd Lord Ongley (died 1814) displays a draped urn and coat of arms. To the southeast of the nave is a monument to Caroline Jane Shuttleworth (died 1899) in alabaster and white marble, by C H Mabey, with a figure of Faith. A 14th-century stained-glass window from Warden Abbey has been restored in the northeast window of the nave.