Church Of St Leonard

The Church of St Leonard is a Grade II* listed building located on Main Street in Thornton le Street. It dates from the 12th century, with elements from the 14th century and extensive restorations in the 19th century. The church is constructed of ashlar and coursed squared stone, topped with a graduated stone slate roof.

The nave, which is late 12th century, features four bays and has an offset diagonal buttress to the west and an offset angle buttress to the east. To the right of the south porch, there are three pointed-arched windows with cusping and hoodmoulds; the central window has two lights with Y-tracery, while the others have one light each. The south gabled porch also has offset diagonal buttresses and a board door set in a chamfered pointed arch. The nave has a corbelled cornice and a gable cross on the east side.

On the west elevation, an offset angle buttress supports a square bell turret, which has two lancet openings with hoodmoulds, a corbelled cornice, and a tall pyramidal stone roof with a finial and belled eaves. The north elevation features a late 12th century chamfered round-arched door with a moulded impost and hood to the right, and a 13th century Y-tracery window with a truncated pointed top to the left. The two-bay chancel has chamfered two-light pointed-arched windows with Y-tracery and hoodmoulds, along with offset diagonal buttresses to the east. The pointed-arched east window has three lights with cusping and a hoodmould, with a pierced trefoil above it, and ridge crosses adorn the roof.

Inside, there is a 19th century pointed chancel arch, and the east window features glass by Kempe from 1894. Notable monuments include a brass plate for Lady Bridget Laton from 1664 in an ornamented stone frame, a brass plate for Roger Talbot from 1680 in a large stone surround with short pilasters and an open segmental pediment by P Briggs, Ebor Sculp, and another monument for Roger Talbot from 1792 with an urn by Fisher.