Church Of St Leonard

Church of St Leonard

A substantial parish church of the 14th and 15th centuries with a Mildmay Chapel added in 1621 and a tower dated 1633, undergoing 19th-century restoration. The building is constructed of regular coursed and squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings, ashlar porch and tower, and a lead roof.

The church comprises an aisled nave, chancel, south chapel, south porch and west tower. The south elevation of the south chapel displays a 2-window range of 3-light windows with 4-centred arch-heads, separated by a 2-stage buttress and flanked by similar clasping buttresses at the corners. The chapel has a shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapets. Its 4-light east window matches the south windows; the chancel's similar east window has its centre mullion missing and its lower lights blocked. The chancel gable is lower than the south chapel. A 2-stage buttress separates the east windows.

The north elevation of the chancel features a 2-window range of 3-light windows with 4-centred arch-heads, with a 2-stage buttress between them and a similar clasping buttress at the corner. The south aisle contains three bays with a 2-window range of 3-light windows like those of the chancel, separated by a 2-stage ashlar buttress, and a lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapets. Its 3-light west window matches the south windows.

A gabled porch projects to the left of the south aisle. The outer doorway has a double-chamfered 4-centred arch-head with semi-circular responds; the inner doorway has a similar head with moulded stone surrounds and panelled doors. A shallow niche sits above the outer doorway, with plain parapets above.

The north aisle also spans three bays with a 2-window range of 3-light windows similar to the chancel. Its north door, positioned in the bay to the right, has a 4-centred arch-head with moulded stone surround. The aisle has 2-stage ashlar buttresses between windows and similar clasping buttresses at corners.

The nave clerestory contains a 3-window range of 3-light windows with 4-centred arch-heads; the lower lights of these windows have been blocked.

The 3-stage unbuttressed west tower has a moulded plinth and moulded string courses creating a setback at each stage. Its small, plain arch-head west doorway is topped by a 2-light round-head window. A single-light west window occupies the second stage. Staircase slits pierce the lower two stages on the north face. The upper stage features 2-light bell-chamber openings on each face with round heads and moulded stone surrounds set in a square-head recess. Above these runs a narrow lattice frieze with corner gargoyles. The tower is crowned with a castellated parapet and panelled pinnacle bases at its corners. A set-back octagonal spire rises above, decorated with two tiers of lucarnes.

Interior: The 3-bay nave arcade consists of double-chamfered arches with semi-circular responds facing into each arch and single chamfers facing into the nave. The chancel arch is similar but has plain corbelled responds. The tower arch is chamfered and moulded with polygonal responds and a plain inner arch. The 3-bay arcade into the south chapel features roll moulding and a flat underside to its arches, with piers and responds showing alternate flat and roll-moulded faces. A similar arch connects the south aisle to the south chapel.

The Perpendicular nave roof displays arched braced principals and cross beams; the aisle roofs are similar but adapted as lean-to structures. The chancel and south chapel roofs have King-post trusses, with moulded King posts in the south chapel. The chancel contains a panelled reredos behind the altar with pilasters and fielded panelled dado. The tower screen, probably dating to 1633, has an arch-head doorway, turned balusters and panelled base. An 18th-century pulpit features fielded and moulded panels, and an 18th-century font has a small bowl on a baluster.

A painting of Christ walking on the water by R.S. Lauder hangs in the chancel. The stained glass includes reset medieval fragments in the south window of the south chapel; an east window in the south chapel dating to circa 1621 in Flemish style; and an east window in the chancel dating to circa 1732 by I. Rowell of High Wycombe. Two early 20th-century windows in the south aisle commemorate the Brassey family, who occupied Apethorpe Hall in the early 20th century.

Wall decoration inside the south chapel comprises elaborately carved limestone panels with rectangular fields bearing some traces of biblical text, scroll surrounds and draped arrangements in the spandrels of the arcades. A carved corbel sits in the north-east corner of the chancel. Fragments of wall paintings appear above the chancel arch.

Monuments include an alabaster effigy of Sir Richard Dalton (died 1442) in the south-east corner of the south chapel. The large and elaborate black and white marble monument to Sir Anthony Mildmay (died 1617) and his wife occupies the centre of the south chapel, displaying recumbent effigies on a sarcophagus. Four life-size figures representing Piety, Charity, Wisdom and Justice stand at the corners, holding back canopy draperies that fall from a circular lantern with arched openings. Seated figures at the head and flanking the lantern represent Faith, Hope and Charity. A black and white marble tablet to John Leïgh (died 1627) stands to the right of the altar, featuring flanking columns and an inverted broken pediment with a recumbent figure to one side. Rowland Woodward's monument to the left of the altar is similarly executed in black and white marble with flanking obelisks. The south chapel contains a marble effigy of a baby commemorating the Honourable John Arthur Fane, who died in infancy in 1816. Various 19th-century tablets in the south chapel and south aisle commemorate the Fane family, Earls of Westmorland and Lords Burghersh, who occupied Apethorpe Hall until 1904.

The church also contains a Jacobean chest and two pieces of armour in the south chapel, as well as a silk tabard mounted in the south aisle.