Church Of St Leonard

Church of St Leonard

A church built in 1835 by Richard Millward to replace an earlier 15th-century church demolished in 1836 for road widening. The chancel and interior were substantially altered in 1876 by JW Rowell.

The building is constructed of Devon limestone rubble with freestone dressings and a slate roof. It follows a rectangular five-bay plan with an added chancel of 1876.

The north-west facade facing Wolborough Street is the principal elevation, with a gabled three-bay design. The central bay is stepped forward and flanked by octagonal turrets offset in three stages with crenellated crown-like parapets. Five lancet recesses rise to the apex, with the tallest central one containing a louvred opening. Below these are moulded string courses, above and at sill level, framing a large four-light pointed-arched traceried window with alternate red and cream voussoirs. The window sits above paired planked doors in pointed arches with headstops to hoodmoulds and circular windows in the tympana. The outer ranges in the lower slopes of the gable contain two-light traceried windows above pointed-arched hoodmoulds to former doors, now blocked and replaced with twentieth-century windows. A wide flight of four granite steps leads to the entrance, flanked by cast-iron bootscrapers.

The chancel is of squared Devon limestone with cream freestone dressings. Its returns feature continuous dripmoulds with foliate terminal stops over five tall, shallow-pointed three-light windows with trefoil-headed lights. The late nineteenth-century vestry to the right of the right return has two-light windows with quatrefoils between trefoil-headed lights and foliate stops to the hoodmoulds. Three granite steps lead to a shouldered-arched planked door with elaborate strap hinges. To the rear is a single-storey lean-to with flat arches to three-light windows.

Internally, the five-bay nave has been divided by a large concertina screen to create a hall to the front, with the gallery above half ceiled over. The unaltered shallow-pitched nave ceiling is panelled with foliate bosses at the angles and two circular ventilation roses. A panelled gallery to the sides and north-west end is supported on slender ribbed cast-iron columns with masks and animals to the capitals. The rest of the interior is mostly of late nineteenth-century character, including the pews. The nave floor is boarded, while the choir and chancel have a polychromatic tiled floor. The choir, with pointed stone arches housing organ pipes on the left, is separated from the nave by a stone quatrefoil-panelled plinth supporting wrought-iron railings, with steps and double gates at the centre.

On the left is an octagonal marble pulpit with a foliate cornice over statues of saints and bishops in trefoil-headed recesses in each facet. On the right is a wrought-iron lectern. The wide moulded chancel arch rests on polished paired red marbled colonettes on corbels.

The chancel of 1876 features three-light clerestorey windows, a richly-painted panelled ceiling, a three-light stained-glass window, and a brass communion rail. The south chapel contains an octagonal font with quatrefoil panels to the top, trefoil-headed panels to the shaft, and rounded moulding to the base.

The entrance hall has a shallow groin vault of 1835 and 1876 doors, gallery stairs and balusters with chamfered arrises to diagonal framing over planking.