Church of St Leonard is a Grade II* listed building in the North Northamptonshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 25 February 1957. Church.
Church of St Leonard
- WRENN ID
- gilded-sentry-thunder
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- North Northamptonshire
- Constituency
- Corby and East Northamptonshire MP: Lee Barron (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 25 February 1957
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Church of St Leonard, A6003, Rockingham
- OS grid reference
- SP 866 914
- Coordinates
- 52.51405, -0.72427
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Leonard is a church dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries. It suffered destruction during the Civil War and was subsequently rebuilt in 1650 and again in the mid-19th century. The church is constructed of limestone and ironstone ashlar with lead and Collyweston slate roofs. It comprises a nave with a north aisle, a chancel, north and south chapels, and a north tower.
The south chapel features a two-window range of 19th-century windows with square heads and arch-head lights. The east window is a 3-light design with 19th-century Y-tracery, and the west window is a 3-light square-head design. The chancel has a 3-light east window with trefoils and quatrefoils. A north vestry is attached to the north chapel, featuring a four-light square-head window with arch lights and a lean-to roof. The north tower, attached to the right of the vestry, has a square base with a single-light window and an octagonal upper stage with single-light bell-chamber openings on alternate faces, topped with a conical roof covered in stone slates. The south elevation of the nave has a three-window range of 19th-century three-light windows, with buttresses between them and a plain parapet. The north aisle also has a three-window range of 19th-century three-light windows with segmental arches and buttresses. The west elevation displays a central gabled projection with an arch-head door opening featuring shafts and foliated capitals, above which is a circular window made up of five trefoils. A lean-to north aisle has a single 2-light window.
Inside, the north arcade to the nave is of 19th-century design, featuring double-chamfered and hollowed arches on octagonal piers. The chancel and north chapel also have double-chamfered and hollowed arches. An arched opening with plain responds leads to the south chapel. The interior also includes 19th-century roof structures, a Jacobean pulpit with arcade decoration and a panelled back, a vestry screen, an altar reredos, and pews. Stained glass from the 19th century is present in all windows; that to the north aisle is by Kempe, and that to the south is by Hedgeland (1853). A wrought iron communion rail is of 18th-century style. The font, dated 1669, is of a crude capital design, with a 17th-century moulded dado adjacent.
Monuments are found in the south chapel, including a monument to Sir Edward Watson (died 1713) by William Palmer, depicting a standing figure on a plinth with Corinthian pilasters and an armorial cartouche. Further monuments include those to Lady Arabella Oxenden (died 1734), Lady Grace Sondes (died 1777), Lewis Watson, Lord Sondes (died 1795), his wife and Lewis Thomas, Lord Sondes (died 1804), and Mary Elizabeth Sondes (died 1818). Various other 19th and 20th-century tablets commemorate the Watson family.
Local climate
Church of St Leonard sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 81% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 82% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 52% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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