Church Of St Leonard

The Church of St Leonard is a parish church located on Church Street in Cleator Moor. The chancel dates back to the 12th century and was raised in the late 18th century, while the rest of the church was rebuilt in 1841. Additions made around 1903 by architect J.H. Martindale include a western baptistry, a north porch, and a vestry, with the date inscribed in the spandrels of the porch door.

The chancel features sandstone blocks set on a chamfered plinth, with pilaster buttresses and a blocking course. The remainder of the church is constructed from snecked rubble, with stepped buttresses and castellated parapets. The roofs are covered with graduated slate and topped with apex crosses on stone copings, and there is a gabled bellcote at the west end above the porch. The vestry on the north side has corniced octagonal stone chimneys.

The nave includes the western baptistry and the north porch, with a lower chancel. The chancel's side walls have original windows, while the east end features triple lancets that may be from the 19th century. Other windows are early 20th-century copies of 16th-century designs, with traceried windows on the west end and south side. There are two segment-headed arches leading to the north porch, with a vestry door to the east and a porch door to the west, which has an inscription above it. A stone bench runs along the nave wall.

Inside, the church has a four-bay nave with a hammer-beam roof, and the chancel features foliate bosses on a wooden barrel vault. The baptistry and chancel have four-centred arches with Gothic panelling in the reveals. A medieval piscina is located in the chancel, and there is Gothic wainscoting that is possibly from the 19th century. A mural stair on the south side of the nave leads to a polygonal carved stone pulpit. The font, which may date from the 17th century, has a hexagonal bowl on a column supported by an octagonal plinth. Stained glass windows were created by Heaton, Butler & Bayne from London, as well as Abbott & Co. from London and Lancaster. The nave and choir seating were installed around 1906.