Church of St Leonard

Church of St Leonard

A parish church of early 13th-century origin with significant 14th-century work, extensively restored and with the chancel rebuilt between 1884 and 1887 by architect William Butterfield. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with gritstone dressings and quoins, and has stone slate roofs except for the leaded nave aisle roofs. It features 19th-century moulded stone copings with plain kneelers to the gables.

The church comprises a western tower, nave with aisles on both sides, north and south transepts, a south porch, and a rebuilt chancel. The tower is of three stages with an embattled parapet and a recessed octagonal spire above. Centrally placed buttresses rise to three sides up to a moulded stringcourse. The southern buttress contains an inserted lancet window. In the second stage is a lancet to the south and a clock face to the north. Above the moulded stringcourse are flat-headed bell openings with twin cusped lights and stone slate louvres to three sides, and twin lancets to the east beneath projecting embattled parapets. A gargoyle projects to the north. The spire carries four spire lucarnes with stone slates and four blind lucarnes at the top.

The north nave aisle has a chamfered pointed door with a stringcourse to its sides stepped up over the opening. To either side are early 14th-century twin-light flat-headed windows with curvilinear tracery. The north transept has a continuous stringcourse stepped up below a 19th-century twin-light north window with reticulated tracery, and a 14th-century three-light flat-headed deeply recessed window to the east with curvilinear tracery. The south transept has a similar three-light window in the equivalent position.

Two single-light windows with buttresses between are set into the north chancel wall. The chancel's east wall has a 19th-century plate tracery three-light window with corner buttresses either side. The south chancel wall contains a single-light window to the east, a 19th-century Y-tracery window to the west with a shouldered doorcase, and a 14th-century two-light curvilinear traceried window. The south transept has a 19th-century ovolo-moulded window with intersecting tracery over trefoil-headed lights and corner buttresses either side. A large four-light window with unusual curvilinear tracery lights the south nave wall.

The south porch has a 19th-century wooden screen and a central pointed arch with ogee-arched panels to the sides. The 13th-century south doorcase features continuous roll mouldings and moulded capitals.

The interior contains three-bay 14th-century arcades with octagonal piers, moulded capitals, and double-chamfered arches. The outer arch mouldings spring from moulded bases over capitals on the nave side. The tower arch is similarly detailed. An early 13th-century chancel arch stands on stiff leaf capitals above carved corbels. A late 12th-century piscina and sedilla occupy the south chancel wall. The piscina sits beneath a chamfered semi-circular-headed arch with leaf decoration. To the west are three stepped semi-circular-headed niches with detached columns between and foliage capitals, topped by a dripmould with dogtooth decoration. These elements were rebuilt in the 19th century.

Butterfield provided 19th-century wooden choir stalls, altar rails, and a pulpit. Two white and grey marble wall memorials are present: one to Hugh Sheldon of 1725 featuring a broken pedimented aedicule, and one to Thomas Chenley of 1724 with a classical aedicule and coat of arms at the top. A 15th-century octagonal font with a quatrefoil stem decorated with beasts survives, as does a hatchment dated 1742. An 18th-century wooden screen divides the south transept chapel.