Description

LEADENHAM MAIN ROAD
SK 95 SE (west side)

4/15 Church of St Swithin
23.8.67

GV I

Parish church. C13. C14. C15. 1841 and C20. Limestone ashlar with lead
roofs, coped gables with cross finials, moulded parapet with octagonal corner
pinnacles to east of nave and chancel. Gabled angle buttresses with set-offs.
Moulded and chamfered double plinth. All openings have hood moulds and label
stops. West tower and spire, nave with aisles and porches, chancel and north
vestry. Tower, 4-stage, with moulded stage bands. West face has small 4-
centred arched doorway with a large 3-light plate tracery pointed arched win-
dow above. Above again a small lancet. The north and south faces of the
first 2 stages are blank. The third stage has pairs of blind arches to each
face, those on the south and west sides being unequal. The fourth stage has
flour, 2-light ogee headed recessed and chamfered late C14 bell openings, with
plate tracery. Above a battlemented parapet with gargoyles and pinnacles
lopped with a C15 crocketed spire with 3 sets of alternating lucarnes. The
north aisle has a 3-light, reticulated tracery, pointed arched west window.
The north gabled porch has diagonal buttresses with set-offs, and it is topped
with a parapet decorated with shields and gargoyles on the side walls. The
entrance has a moulded 4-centred arched, chamfered opening with a small niche
above. The interior has stone benches, the inner doorway has a chamfered and
moulded, pointed arch with a niche above included within a gable, decorated
with crockets which rises into the porch roof, and which has large head label
stops. The north aisle has two C14, four-light windows with reticulated
tracery in, segmental recessed and chamfered arches. The east wall has a
similar 5-light windows, and the clerestory has 3 similar 2-light windows on
each side. The chancel has a single north window of 3 lights, in a 4-centred
arch. In the angle between the chancel and vestry is a battlemented stair
turret with 2 small lancets. The C19 gabled vestry has a single 2-light north
window in a 4-centred arch, and a single 3-light similar east window. The
chancel has a large 4-light east windows in a pointed arch with very unusual
tracery, made up of 3 roughly triangular panels. The south wall has two 3-
light windows in recessed 4-centred arches. The south aisle has a 5-light
reticulated tracery, segmental arched window to the east,and 2 similar 4-light
windows to the south, and a 3-light plate tracery, pointed arched window to
the west. The shallow gabled south porch has a moulded parapet, angle but-
tresses, and a moulded and chamfered 4-centred arched opening with single
shaft responds. The interior has a 3-bay nave arcades with compound keeled
piers and responds supporting finely moulded pointed arches. The chancel and
tower arches are similar. The openings for the rood stair survive in the
south-east corner of the nave. The nave roof is largely C19, with original
C14 timbers. There is an ogee headed piscina in the chancel, and another in
the north aisle. The C19 chancel roof was hand painted by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin in 1841. C19 mosaic reredos. C19 wooden pews. C19 marble pulpit and wood and iron altar rail. In the chancel floor are 2 brasses to Elizabeth Beresford 1624 and to Margaret Beresford 1635. On the east wall a C17 high relief Beresford coat of arms, and on the north wall a plaque topped by a coat of arms to Charles Beresford 1716. There are 2 wall tablets to Ellis Key 1756 and
William Key 1752 on the west wall of the south aisle, there is another monu-
ment to Lady Jane Sherard 1856 on the south wall in low relief of a lady
weeping over an urn. In the north aisle a similar monument to Frances Welby
`1858 and 2 Gothic monuments to General John Reeve 1864 and William Reeve 1820.

Listing NGR: SK9504151746

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17530776

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

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)