Church Of St Leonard

SUNNINGWELL SP4900 17/142 Church of St. Leonard 09/02/66 GV II* Church. C13: late C15 tower, south transept and fenestration: west porch built 1571 for Bishop Jewel. Restored 1870 and 1902. Uncoursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; lead roof, except old tiles to chancel roof. Chancel and nave with south transept, transeptal north tower and heptagonal west porch. Late C13 three-light east window: 2-bay side walls of chancel have C15 ogee-headed windows, divided by offset buttress to south. C15 south transept has 3-light cinquefoil-headed windows except early C16 three-light segmental-arched west window. 2-bay south wall of nave has similar C15 windows with restored mullions and heads flanking blocked C13 two-light window without mullion: north wall of nave has similar C15 windows. C15 three-stage transeptal north tower: C15 one-, 2- and 3-light windows and crenellated parapet with gargoyles. West porch of 1571 in Gothic and Classical style: Tudor-arched doorway with classical entablature and cinquefoil-headed lights are divided by unfluted Ionic columns surmounted by classical entablature. Interior: reredos, piscina and mosaic floor of c.1870. Fine medieval-style floor tiles depict Revelations Chapter 4. C16 collar truss with king stud, and chancel arch of c.1902. Nave has Jacobean pulpit, C15 octagonal pulpit and C17 bench-ends with huge poppyheads similar to those at Radley Church (q.v.). C16 five-bay roof has arch braces springing from vertical side struts into which are tenoned hollow-chamfered purlins with jowled ends. C15 hollow-chamfered arch to north tower, which has narrow C15 doorway to stairs. Similar double-chamfered arch to north transept which has C15 five-bay parclose screen with foiled heads and early C18 panelled double-leaf doors. Monuments: memorial reset in chancel floor to Margaret Fell, widow of Dean of Christ Church, d.1657, and others of the Fell family. Late C17 plain oval wall tablet to Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton, d.1632, and her children: late C17 epitaph to their in-laws, the Baskervilles. Plain wall tablets in nave to Blower family (early C18), Joseph Barnett, rector, d.1796, and Caroline Stonehouse d.1810. Stained glass: mainly 1902. Fine east window by J.P. Seddon, of The Adoration of the Shepherds and the Magi in Pre-Raphaelite style. The porch was built for Bishop Jewel to commemorate his incumbency at Sunningwell Parish before becoming Bishop of Salisbury. (V.C.H.: Berkshire, Vol.IV, p.423; Buildings of England: Berkshire, p.234-5; Bodleian Library M.S. Top. Berkshire. C51, no.108 for south view of church in early C19; National Buildings Record).

Listing NGR: SP4957200532