Former Church Of St Leonard At The Hythe

This is a small and attractive church situated on Hythe Hill, Colchester, which originated in the 12th century but comprises largely the product of successive rebuildings and additions spanning the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries.

The church is constructed of mixed rubble including septaria, flint, pebbles, brick and freestone, with limestone dressings and leaded and tiled roofs. It follows a plan of a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel with north and south chancel chapels, a north-east vestry, a west tower, and a south porch.

The building's architectural development is complex and well-documented. A church stood here by the mid-12th century. The chancel was rebuilt and the north arcade and north aisle were added or rebuilt around 1330-40, with the north-east vestry being contemporary or slightly later. The west tower dates to the late 14th century. The south arcade, south aisle and south porch were built in the 15th century. Around 1500, a major campaign of remodelling saw the chancel arch rebuilt, the north and south chancel chapels built or rebuilt as what appears to have been a single consistent project, and the clerestory added.

Externally, the church displays predominantly late medieval character. The chancel has a heavily restored 15th-century east window with vertical tracery and a restored 14th-century window in its south wall; a similar window appears in the north wall above the vestry. The north-east vestry has an early 16th-century north window and a 19th-century east door. The south aisle and south chancel chapel are continuous with an embattled parapet and heavily restored early 16th-century windows. The south chapel door is early 16th-century in origin but heavily restored. The north chapel and aisle have similar windows, while the north aisle door and north aisle west window are 14th-century. The nave clerestory features early 16th-century two-light windows in square frames, all heavily restored. The embattled two-storied south porch is late 15th-century in origin but was entirely rebuilt in the 19th century, with windows in square frames. The south doorway is late 15th-century and has a pointed head in a square frame with carved spandrels; the south door is also 15th-century. The three-stage west tower has late 14th-century lower parts, with the upper part rebuilt after an earthquake in 1884. The west window has been heavily restored and the blocked west door below it is probably 14th-century. The bell openings display hexagonal reticulated tracery, and the restored embattled parapet is executed in flint flushwork.

The interior contains significant medieval architectural features. The chancel arch is late 15th-century with a four-centred form, a continuous outer order and an inner order on attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases; however, the sides of the arch are badly distorted. Two-bay north and south chancel arcades date to around 1500 and have four-centred arches with continuous outer orders and inner orders on central quatrefoil piers. An early 16th-century squint provides views from the south chapel into the chancel. The 14th-century former chancel north door now serves as the entrance to the vestry. The nave arcades comprise four bays; the north arcade is early 14th-century with moulded pointed arches on quatrefoil piers with attached half-round shafts and moulded capitals and bases. The south arcade was built or rebuilt in the later 15th century with four-centred arches on quatrefoil piers with half-round shafts that have been partially rebuilt. The arches from the aisles into the chancel chapels are early 16th-century with continuous outer orders and inner orders on shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The tower arch is late 14th-century with a continuous outer order and an inner order on polygonal shafts. The doors survive for what was clearly a very large and elaborate rood screen that stretched the full width of the church, including upper and lower doors in the north-west corner of the north chapel and another in the south-west corner of the north chapel at high level. The nave retains a hammerbeam roof of around 1500, while the north aisle and north and south chapel roofs are early 16th-century.

The church retains a High Church interior with numerous notable fixtures. Piscinas of around 1500 survive in the chancel and south chapel. A 15th-century south door and an early 16th-century door to the vestry are preserved. An octagonal 15th-century font, originally from East Donyland church, was brought to St Leonard's in 1840. The choir stalls with poppyheads date to 1849 and are by Henry Ringmer. The chancel and chapel screens and the rood are early 20th-century but incorporate some late 15th or early 16th-century screenwork. A late 19th or early 20th-century stone pulpit and an early 20th-century painted and stencilled reredos in the south chapel are present. Good early 20th-century stained glass by Heaton, Butler and Bayne survives. Wall paintings of 1901 are positioned over the chancel arch; the decorative scheme formerly extended along the nave walls above the arcades, and medieval wall paintings are said to have been discovered and then painted over in the chancel in the 1860s. A monument to William Hawkins, died 1812, by George Lufkin is notable, and a few ledger slabs remain.

The building experienced damage during the Civil War and was repaired in 1662, with further work undertaken in the 18th and early 19th centuries, including rebuilding the top of the tower in brick in 1788. The church suffered from structural problems and was extensively repaired in the 19th century, with major campaigns in 1839 and 1848 when the chancel roof was redone. H W Hayward undertook partial restoration in 1863, and W A Moy carried out further work in 1865-66, including opening up the tower arch which had been blocked. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt following an earthquake in 1888, and the church was partially refurnished in the early 20th century. The building closed in 1983 and is now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust, which commissioned repairs by Purcell, Miller, Triton in the late 20th century.