Church Of St Leonard

Description

This information is taken from the statutory List as it was in 2001 and may not be up to date.

MIDDLETON NEW LANE SD 80 NE (south side) 2/17 Church of 15/3/57 St. Leonard G.V. I Church. Priests door C13; south porch, tower and south arcade 1412 for Cardinal Langley of Durham; the remainder largely of 1524 for Sir Richard Assheton except for vestry of late C17, top stage of tower added in c. 1667, east window of 1847, organ chamber 1920 and north vestrys of 1958 by G. G. Pace. Dressed stone with weather-boarded top stage to tower. 4-bay aisle (5-bay north) with weathered plinth, weathered buttresses and castellated parapet with foiled panelling. Cusped 3-light aisle windows and uncusped 3-light clerestory windows below flat heads. The porch is ornately carved with niches and foiled panelling around the arched doorway which has a crocketed ogee hoodmould. The C17 vestry is considerably lower to avoid obscuring the windows above.

Rainwater heads on the north aisle record a restoration of 1869, similarly, JS 1852 appears on the castellations. The 4-stage west tower has diagonal buttresses, a weathered plinth, 2-light windows on the first and second stages, clock faces on the third, and a curious weatherboarded top stage which was designed to accommodate a new peal of bells and has gables on each side. The C20 addition is in a free Gothic style. Interior: double-chamfered nave arcade with octagonal piers. The roofline of the 1412 church is clearly visible above the tower arch which is itself a re-set Norman chancel arch of 3 orders with scalloped capitals, curious rams' heads carved on the bases and 2 orders of zigzag in the arch which is now pointed. Rennants of the Norman church also exist in fragments of a billet frieze used in part of the north arcade. C15 rood screen without its original loft has heraldic dado panels which have themselves been restored. Stall with misericords and traceried ends with poppyheads including carved animals. Hopwood box pew (probably late C17) in south aisle with barleysugar balusters. C19 font and lectern. Window commemorates the victory of Flodden Field 1513, the event which prompted the rebuilding of the church by way cf thanksgiving. Various C16 and C17 brasses. C18 and C19 decorated wall tablets. The church enjoys a commanding hilltop position.

Listing NGR: SD8721106306

Content

This is part of the Series: IOE01/1091 IOE Records taken by Pamela Jackson; within the Collection: IOE01 Images Of England

Rights

© Ms Pamela Jackson. Source: Historic England Archive

This photograph was taken for the Images of England project