Church Of St Leonard

The Church of St Leonard is a parish church largely of late 11th and late 12th century origin, with a chancel dating from the late 14th century. It was restored in 1886-7, when the west tower and west end were rebuilt. The church is constructed of knapped flint, with some flint rubble and Roman brick, stone dressings, and a machine tile roof. It consists of a nave with an aisle, an aisless chancel, and north and south gabled porches. The west tower has a tall lower stage and a small belfry stage, topped with a broached spire. The west elevation contains a 2-light traceried window to the lower stage of the tower and a louvred lancet to the belfry. Trefoiled lancets are found on both aisles, and the nave has three small round-headed clerestory windows. The south aisle has two 2-light windows of 15th-century style, while the chancel contains two cinquefoiled windows with chamfered frames and hood moulds and a 3-light eastern window of a similar design. The gable end of the nave displays Tudor style half-timbering with narrow trefoiled lancets, dating from around 1887.

Internally, the nave is three bays, with the lower half retaining original late 12th century transitional Norman features. These include large octagonal piers on stepped and chamfered bases, scalloped capitals, and roll-moulded arches. The west tower arch is of mid 12th century design, featuring colonnettes with stiff-leaf capitals. The nave roof is a 19th-century crown post construction. The chancel has a wagon roof with original trussed rafters, a single tie beam, and heavy wooden corbels, alongside carved stone corbels. A remarkable feature is the chancel arch, largely of late 14th century appearance but incorporating a late 11th century Roman brick arch. The upper portion of the opening was originally filled in, but now has a traceried timber screen; the lower part includes a central pointed-arch door within a flat-headed surround, with a 2-light traceried window above. To either side of the door are posts with carved reclining figures, likely representing donors. The font, located at the west end of the nave, is of late 11th or early 12th century date, constructed as a stone drum with shallow carved intersecting arches. The chancel floor retains 14th century tiles, some displaying glazed circular patterns. There are two good early 19th century monuments to the Martin family, both consisting of simple Greek-style chests with obelisks. A hexagonal, late 19th century carved pulpit is also present.