Church Of St Leonard

Anglican parish church. Built in the 13th, 15th and early 16th centuries, with major restorations in the 1860s and around 1910. Constructed in limestone ashlar with stone slate roof to the chancel and lead roof to the nave.

The church comprises a west tower, south aisle and nave, chancel and north chapel, with north and south porches. The north porch is gabled with a moulded pointed doorway, string course and coped verge. The north side of the nave displays three-light Perpendicular windows either side of the porch, with buttresses carried up to crocketed pinnacles above a battlemented parapet. A second gabled porch stands to the left with another three-light Perpendicular window beside it. A square sanctus bellcote sits on the east gable end of the nave.

The chancel features a Tudor-arched priest's door with hoodmould, a moulded lancet to the right and a two-light Perpendicular window to the left. Diagonal buttresses support the east end, which displays a three-light Perpendicular east window. A cast-iron rainwater head dated 1867 is present. The south side of the chancel has a lancet and two-light Perpendicular window, with an 18th-century wall tablet to the left.

The early 16th-century south aisle has a blind east wall and three three-light Perpendicular windows. Buttresses on the south side are carried up to crocketed pinnacles with a battlemented parapet and gargoyles. A blocked doorway leads to a gabled porch with diagonal buttresses, while a blocked west window is also visible.

The three-stage west tower features a low 19th-century porch with an original Tudor-arched doorway within, set-back buttresses and string courses. The middle stage contains arrowloops. The bell stage displays three-light Perpendicular windows with pierced stone louvres, and a cornice with gargoyles supporting the battlemented parapet. A polygonal stair turret with arrowloops rises from the south-east corner.

The interior contains a five-bay tie-beam roof to the nave with moulded beams and cusping between struts, with a panelled roof featuring bosses. A tall moulded tower arch is fitted with a 20th-century wooden screen, and a 1715 Royal Arms is hung in the tower.

The south aisle comprises three bays with an additional chapel bay at the east end, featuring moulded pointed arches on piers. A cusped piscina is set into the south wall at the east end. The north chapel has the same mouldings as the south chapel, with the head of a Tudor-arched doorway to former rood loft stairs on the east wall.

A moulded pointed chancel arch matches the chapel arches and is fronted by an early 20th-century traceried screen. The chancel ceiling is a 19th-century four-bay barrel-vault with moulded ribs. A 19th-century panelled stone reredos displays mosaics of the Four Evangelists and St Leonard and St Aldhelm. A 19th-century communion rail is also present.

Other interior fittings include a 19th-century stone polygonal pulpit and a 15th-century octagonal font bowl on a pier with four shafts by the north door. Seating dates to 1909–10. Good 19th-century stained glass appears in the chancel and chapels, though unsigned.

Monuments include 17th and 18th-century tablets in the chancel, notably a pedimented tablet with heraldic arms and volutes to John Harris (died 1657). Several 18th-century tablets in the north chapel commemorate the Beach family of Keevil Manor, including cartouched tablets to William Gaisford (died 1754) and a marble tablet by Ford of Bath to Jane Talbot (died 1768). The south chapel contains a large marble tablet to Edward Blagdon (died 1750). Several small brass plaques are distributed throughout the church, including one in the north chapel to Elizabeth Gaisford (died 1720). A large benefactions board dated 1852 on the north wall of the nave records gifts of George Tayler.