Church of St Leonard

Church of St Leonard

This is a parish church in Leverington with architectural work spanning from the mid-13th century to the 15th century. The lower stages of the tower and part of the south wall with arcading between the chancel and south chapel date to the mid-13th century. The south aisle and porch are 14th century work. The 13th-century nave was rebuilt in the 15th century when the north aisle was added. The west tower and spire, south porch, and monuments in the south chapel are particularly noteworthy.

The west tower is built of Barnack ashlar and is embattled with four stages on a splayed plinth. Octagonal turrets stand at the eaves. The tower has four-stage angle buttressing with newel staircases positioned in the south-west and north-west angles. A 14th-century gabled west doorway features a two-centred arch with hollow and roll-moulded orders. The roll moulding is carried on an attached shaft with a moulded capital and base. Within the gable is a niche containing a figure, probably of a priest.

The first stage of the west wall has two lancets with banded angle shafts. Similar arcading of three bays runs across the north and south walls, with the central bay pierced on both sides. The second stage repeats this fenestration but with three banded angle shafts between the lancets. The east wall has similar openings, now blocked by the later nave roof. The 14th-century bell stage features two-centred arches opening to two trefoil openings with foiled heads.

The 14th-century spire is also of Barnack ashlar, decorated with three tiers of gabled spire lights. The nave, rebuilt in the 15th century, is constructed of coursed Barnack stone with a low pitch roof of 19th-century slates. The clerestory comprises six windows, each with three cinquefoil lights in four-centred heads. The south aisle is 14th-century work with a 15th-century embattled parapet and 15th-century fenestration consisting of five windows, each with three cinquefoil lights.

The south porch is a fine 14th-century structure with a parvise room above, restored in 1939. It is constructed of rubble with coursed stone to the buttressing and newel staircase in the north-west corner. The gabled roof has a parapet and running foliate ornament to the ridge and gable, with finials at the corners and apex. The gable end contains a niche with a cinquefoil head in an ogee arch, flanked by square piers above a 14th-century window of two cinquefoil lights in an ogee arch. The outer archway has hollow and roll mouldings in an ogee arch and is flanked by two similar 14th-century niches.

The interior of the porch is arranged in two bays with quadripartite vaulting springing from attached shafts with embattled capitals.

The south chapel has 13th-century origins but was rebuilt in the 14th century. It contains three windows, one blocked and the others restored, each with three cinquefoil lights in a pointed arch. The east window has five lights with decorated tracery in a two-centred arch.

The chancel is 14th-century. Its south wall features one window of three lights with a transom forming a low side window, with vertical tracery and a two-centred arch.

The interior of the tower has deep splays at the first and second stages to the reveals of the central window openings on both the north and south walls. The doorway to the newel staircase has a two-centred arch of a single chamfered order. The tower arch is 15th-century work, consisting of three hollow-moulded orders with stiff-leaf foliate capitals on attached shafts with moulded bases.

The nave has north and south arcades of six bays, both 15th-century work. The arcades feature two-centred arches of a single hollow-moulded order with moulded labels contrived as attached shafts to the piers. Each pier is square, set diagonally, with attached shafts at two angles, moulded capitals and bases. The attached shafts rise and terminate in corbels for the roof's jack-posts. The gable end of the 13th-century roof is visible in the east wall of the tower.

The chancel is 14th-century with 15th-century fenestration to the north and south walls. Between the chancel and south chapel runs a 13th-century arcade of two bays, featuring two-centred, hollow and roll-moulded arches on columns of four grouped shafts with moulded capitals and bases.

The sedilia is 14th-century work consisting of three bays with two-centred, hollow-moulded orders. The communion rail dates to the mid to late 17th century and features twisted balusters with a moulded rail. The lectern is late 15th-century work, restored, and takes the form of an eagle in painted wood.

The east window of the north aisle contains 15th-century Tree of Jesse glazing, restored in 1900. The south chapel contains a 15th-century pieta with kneeling saints and donors, reset.

Wall monuments in the south chapel commemorate Thomas Crosse (1633), John Cross (1743), Daniel Swain (1782), Mary his wife (1804), Spelman Swain (1761), Mary Swaine (1731), and John Swaine (1752).

The font is 15th-century work. It is octagonal with sides carved with seated figures in niches with cinquefoil heads and crocketed gables. The soffit of the bowl, the stem, and the base are also carved.