Church Of St Leonard And St Dilp

Church of St Leonard and St Dilp

A parish church of probably 14th-century date, built on an earlier foundation. The tower was added in the early 15th century, with north and south aisles constructed in the later 15th century. The building underwent significant late 19th-century restoration, including the raising of the nave roof to form a clerestory.

The roofs are slate with raised coped verges, ridge tiles, and cross finials. The plan comprises a nave and chancel in one, a west tower, north and south aisles, and a south porch all of the later 15th century. A single-storey vestry was added to the east of the south aisle in the 19th century.

The chancel east end has a 3-light 19th-century window with a 4-centred arch and breather above. The east end of each aisle has a similar window of 15th-century date, with cusped lights and Perpendicular tracery, the central light taller. The north aisle, of 4 bays, stands on a plinth with diagonal and weathered buttresses. The west bay has a chamfered 4-centred arched doorway, while the other three bays have windows matching those at the east end. A single-storey lean-to stands at the west end. The south aisle, of 5 bays, has the porch in its west bay with similar buttressing and west window. To the east are four similar windows and a central projecting rood stair tower with a lancet. The gabled south porch has a 4-centred arched greenstone doorway with chamfered jamb shafts and cast iron gates. A slate sundial with gnomon is set above the porch entrance, dated 1767 and inscribed with the names of churchwardens John Wymond and John Hodge.

The interior of the porch features a 19th-century slate floor and granite benches, with a 19th-century wagon roof. The inner doorway has a 4-centred arch with roll and hollow mouldings and hood mould, with 19th-century double doors and an image niche above.

The west tower is in three stages with string courses, weathered set-back buttresses through two stages, and diagonal buttresses at the third stage. The parapet is embattled with pinnacles and a polygonal north stair tower. The west doorway has a 4-centred arch with rounded jambs bearing shaft rings, a hood mould, and a relieving arch, with 19th-century double doors. The 3-light west window, of 15th-century date, has 3-centred arched lights with upper tracery, hood mould, and relieving arch. The second stage has single 3-centred arched lights to north and south with hood mould and relieving arch. The third stage contains 2-light bell-openings with 3-centred arched lights, slate louvres, hood mould, and relieving arch.

The interior features a tall 4-centred tower arch in banded slatestone. The floors are slate-paved and walls are plastered. The nave and chancel have 19th-century wagon roofs with three 3-light cusped windows in the clerestory. The north and south aisles also have wagon roofs, reconstructed in the 19th century but using earlier bosses; the south aisle retains principal rafters and pendants. The tower has a north door to the stair tower with a chamfered 4-centred arch and iron bands and studs.

Five-bay arcades run north and south with octagonal piers bearing ring mouldings and 4-centred chamfered and stopped arches. Above the north arcade are two corbels from the former roof-line, and at the chancel are two corbels to north and south carved with masks, marking the springing for the former chancel arch. The south aisle has a 4-centred arched doorway to the rood stair with a stone newel stair and upper opening; a corresponding opening appears above the north and south arcades. The south aisle also has an east doorway with a pointed arch, possibly formerly a priest's door, now leading into the 19th-century vestry. The chancel contains a cusped piscina and aumbry. The rood screen dates from 1929.

Fittings include an octagonal stone font in the north aisle, dated 1660, with inscriptions carved around the bowl; the font itself is of earlier date, with a central pillar and four outer shafts. Pews in both aisles retain 15th-century bench ends. An 18th-century alms box stands in the south aisle. The rood screen incorporates part of a 15th-century screen. At the west end is panelling with unicorn finials, formerly the Lower family's box pew, dated 1631, with fine carving, set on the base of the 15th-century rood screen.

Royal arms of George II hang in the south aisle, oil on board in a scrolled surround. Early 18th-century ringers' verses are displayed in the tower, oil on board in a bolection-moulded frame. A hatchment with coat of arms dated 1736 hangs in the south aisle. A letter of thanks from Charles I is displayed in the north aisle, oil on board in a scrolled ovolo-moulded frame. A pair of medals in a case in the north aisle commemorate South Africa 1853 and Pekin 1860, from Samuel Crook. Three 17th-century pewter flagons are housed in a case in the north aisle. An early 19th-century unidentified portrait of a man hangs in the north aisle.

Monuments in the south aisle include an oval slate tablet with floral surround by H. Grills to William Roberts, 1798; slate tablets to George Roberts, 1802, Richard Roberts, 1803, and Joan [surname incomplete], 1782; a pair of brass tablets in a stone ovolo-moulded surround with ancient colour, surmounted by a stone skull and hourglass, to Sir Nicholas Lower, 1695, and Dame Elizabeth Lower, 1638; a stone chest tomb with marble lid carved with coat of arms and unicorn crest to Sir Nicholas Lower, 1655; a stone tablet to Elizabeth Roberts, 1654; a brass tablet to Theodore Palaeologus, who died at Clifton, with a shouldered nowy head on a moulded plinth and several inscriptions, of 18th-century date; and a slate tablet to Joseph Symons, 1801. In the tower is a slate tablet with shaped head and trumpeting angel carved in relief to Fitz Anthony Pennington, Bell-founder of Lezant, with quatrain, dated 1768.

The south aisle window retains fragments of mediaeval glass with shields of arms and the unicorn crest of the Lower family.