Church Of St Leonard

Church of St Leonard, Heston Road, Heston

The Church of St Leonard is a medieval parish church largely rebuilt and enlarged in 1866-7 under architect Thomas Bellamy, though its late medieval tower survives from the original structure. The tower and western porch were reconstructed in 1866-7 using 15th-century materials from the previous porch.

The church is built of coursed, rock-faced ragstone with freestone dressings, and the roofs are covered with Welsh slates. The timber superstructure of the western porch rests on stone walls.

The plan comprises a western tower, nave, north and south aisles, an outer north aisle, north and south chancel aisles, a south porch, and a north vestry.

The western tower is a particularly fine example of late medieval Perpendicular architecture, described as "one of the best of the Middlesex type". It has four storeys and is similar to that at Isleworth. The tower features a south-east turret, diagonal buttresses, a three-light western window, and tall two-light transomed windows with square heads to the belfry stage. There are embattled parapets and carved gargoyles. A small square-headed stoup is positioned on the right-hand side of the western doorway, which retains its late medieval door. The western porch has a four-centred outer arch with foliated spandrels, four lights on each side, and a roof with a moulded ridge and a tie-beam with curved braces.

The body of the church is in the style of around 1300. Most windows are two-lights with trefoil tracery in the heads, though the windows at the east end are more complex, featuring three lights. The two aisle windows at the east end share the same design, with tracery heads composed of several trefoils. The south-east part of the nave is lit by a broad seven-light mullioned timber dormer window. The south and inner north aisle have lean-to roofs while other parts of the church are under their own separate gables. There is no clerestory.

Inside, the arch to the tower is tall and moulded, typical of 15th-century work. In the arcades between the nave and its aisles, the piers alternate between round and octagonal, a practice found in some medieval churches. The arcade to the outer north aisle has round piers, capitals, and double-chamfered arches, and is said to reuse piers from the old church. The chancel arch is moulded and carried on demi-octagonal responds. The roofs to the nave, chancel, and outer north aisle are of arch-braced construction. The tower and nave are divided by a modern glazed partition.

Much of the 19th-century congregational seating remains, though much has been removed from the eastern parts to accommodate the altar, which has been brought forward. The most notable fixtures are numerous monuments retained from the pre-Victorian church. These include the monument to William James (died 1727), the largest monument at the east end of the outer north aisle, featuring flanking marble pilasters and a broken pediment. An earlier oval tablet to William Denington (died 1686) in the north chapel is a marble tablet with scrolls and a cartouche. The Lady Chapel contains a monument to Robert Child (died 1782) and other family members, designed by the renowned architect Robert Adam and sculpted by PN Van Geldert. The church also has a varied collection of 19th and 20th-century stained glass, including work by CE Kempe (Lady Chapel south-east; died 1897) and Heaton, Butler and Bayne (Lady Chapel south-west; died 1894). At the east end of the north chapel is an unusual First World War memorial bearing the names of the fallen under an arcade of Gothic arches. The chancel contains a large reredos with emblems of the Evangelists, fleuron decoration, and the Commandments, Lord's Prayer, and Creed on metal tablets under Gothic arches.

Heston's medieval parish church occupies the southern end of what is said to be the largest churchyard in the country at nine acres. Before rebuilding, the church contained evidence of various dates, including work said to date to Norman times. The 15th-century tower is the sole survivor of the medieval building, along with the reconstructed western porch. In the 18th century, the Child family of Osterley Park was buried here, and Robert Adam, who had worked for the family at Osterley, designed Robert Child's monument. The rebuilding in the mid-1860s was undertaken by Thomas Bellamy (1798-1876), a London architect with an office in Charlotte Street, Bedford Square. The project became something of a cause célèbre and attracted substantial criticism from conservation advocates of the day. Two letters of protest were sent to The Times, one from George Gilbert Scott, then England's most famous architect. This was reported in the Building News and reprinted in the Ecclesiologist. The case was among several high-profile instances that helped bring about a more conservative approach to the treatment of historic buildings in Britain. The rebuilt church was consecrated by the Bishop of London on 8 May 1867.