Description

WILLEY MAIN STREET
SP48SE (East side)
8/30 Church of St. Leonard
06/10/60
- II*

Small church. Nave and tower late C14/C15. Chancel rebuilt, vestry and south
porch added and parapets renewed in 1884 at the expense of the Reverend F.M.
Payler. Tower and part of nave of sandstone ashlar. Remainder of sandstone
rubble with limestone dressings. Chancel and porch have moulded cornices, stone
slate roofs and coped gable parapets with gablet kneelers. Nave roof is hidden
by embattled parapet. Chancel, nave, west tower, south porch, north vestry.
2-bay chancel, 3-bay nave. Chancel has north and south buttresses flush with
east wall. 3-light east window has curvilinear tracery. Cross finial. Moulded
trefoiled-arch south doorway has hood mould with shield stops, and plank door.
Cinqfoiled eastern lancet to north and south. 2-light south-west window has
simple tracery. Vestry has quoins. North side has paired segmental pointed
lancets. Gable apex has round chimney stack. Chamfered segmental-arched west
doorway with plank door. Half-octagonal rood loft stair turret between vestry
and nave has renewed upper part with embattled parapet. Nave has splay plinth.
South side has 3 buttresses of 2 offsets. Porch has buttresses flush with front.
Doorway of 2 run-out chamfered orders has hood mould. Gable has blind trefoil.
Chamfered doorway and plank door inside. North and south sides have
straight-headed Perpendicular windows, of 3 lights with hood moulds to east, and
2 much smaller lights to west. Blocked north doorway. Small tower of 3 stages
has splay and moulded plinth, and splays between stages. Diagonal west, and
north and south buttresses of 5 offsets. First stage has 4-centred west window.
Second stage has quatrefoil opening to south. Third stage has bell openings with
hood moulds and remains of carved stops. West window and bell openings have
cusped Y-tracery. Embattled parapet with gargoyles. Interior is plastered, but
chancel is of colourwashed brick, with boarded roof. Piscina. C19 chancel arch
has outer continuous chamfer and inner order with half-octagonal responds. Nave
has 4-centred rood loft stair doorway with plank door, and chamfered
Tudor-arched doorway above. Tower arch of 2 segmental pointed orders.
Perpendicular roof has Clb timbers, with carved wall posts and head corbels.
Fittings: C19 altar rails, stalls, font, etc. Disused C14 font has round bowl
and octagonal base. C17 altar table. Old plank chest. Monuments: nave north wall
has reworked tomb recess with moulded segmental pointed arch. Remains of early
C14 effigy, with half-length figure and enriched ogee quatrefoils forming part
of a cross. C17 funeral helm and breast plates. The rebuilding cost 1500 pounds.
(V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.VI, pp.2b0-2bl; Buildings of England: Warwickshire,
p.473; Kelly's Directory of Warwickshire, 1892, p.247).

Listing NGR: SP4966484802

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17550852

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]