Church of St Leonard

Details

SP 06 NE
11/59

BEOLEY CP
CHURCH HILL (north side)
Church of St Leonard

16.11.67

GV
I
Parish church. Early C12, extended early C13, early C14, early C15 and c1580; restored 1885 and 1891. Sandstone ashlar with tiled roof. West tower, nave, north and south aisles, chancel with Sheldon Chapel to north.

West tower: c1400, four stages, diagonal stepped buttresses, crenellated parapet with plain pinnacles, each stage defined by string courses; west side: belfry has window of two cinquefoiled lights under two-centred head with label; second stage: square-headed window with crocketed label; first stage: large window of four cinquefoiled lights under a two-centred head with crocketed label; ground stage: door has a four-centred arch of two continuously moulded orders with label.

Aisles (there is no nave clerestory): south: early C13, largely rebuilt early C15, four bays, second bay from west has entrance with C19 gabled timber-framed porch, the entrance has a four-centred arch and is moulded; windows: all have cinquefoiled lights and square heads, that to the east of three lights, the others of two, above the three-light window is a restored C17 gabled dormer window, west window is C19; north: early C14, three bays: central entrance with four-centred head, west window of three cinquefoiled lights under a four-centred head, east window: three cinquefoiled lights under square head; a late C20 parish hall has been added to the north linked by a glazed corridor to the entrance from the north side.

Chancel: early C12, extended early C13, two bays with C19 diagonal buttresses, windows have trefoiled lights under square heads, two lights to west, three lights to east; east window: C19 of three septfoil lights under four-centred head.

Sheldon Chapel: late C16, two bays: two three-light square-headed windows; east window: five square-headed lights under a four-centred head.

INTERIOR: nave: arcades of three bays, south arcade early C13 has two-centred arches of two chamfered orders with label on a circular and an octagonal pier; north arcade: early C14 has two-centred arches of two orders; tower arch: tall with two continuously moulded orders; chancel arch: C12, a plain semi-circular arch with impost blocks, above which is a C19 Romanesque window of two semi-circular headed lights; chancel: arcade to Sheldon Chapel through two memorials.

Roofs: north aisle has matchboarding to a five bay medieval roof, south aisle C19 lean-to roof; nave: C19 scissor-braced common rafter roof; chancel: C19 four-bay roof with arch-braced collars supporting king posts; Sheldon Chapel: C19 scissor-braced common-rafter roof with collar purlin.

Fittings: south aisle, set in wall a C12 relief of a saint; north aisle: font of C13 has four female heads on bowl; Sheldon Chapel: an important collection of Italianate monuments, two penetrate wall to chancel, that to east to William Sheldon (died 1570) and his wife Mary, has two recumbent stone effigies on a sarcophagus bearing a number of coats of arms, all under a four-centred arch with panelled soffit, framed by detached Corinthian columns supporting a full entablature surmounted by an armorial achievement flanked by obelisks; that to west to Ralph Sheldon (died 1613) and his wife Anne; similar in design to the west; in the north wall two semi-circular tomb recesses, to the east William Sheldon (died 1517) a table tomb with three panelled front divided by Doric pilasters; to the west Ralph Sheldon (died 1546), similar design but Ionic pilasters; west wall of chapel a collection of wall memorials to the Sheldon family, dated from 1613 to 1766; altar in chapel is of two stages, both supported on three columns, the upper slab of black marble; on the sloping sill of the west window is a C13 stone coffin lid with a foliated cross.

Listing NGR: SP0651869649

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

156110

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Worcester, (1924), 16-18
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, (1968), 80-81

End of official list entry

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