Description

WEST YORKSHIRE
LEEDS
5114

SE 42 NE LEDSHAM CLAYPIT LANE
L825 (north side)

8/19 Church of All Saints
3rd February 1967

GV I

Church. Saxon and Norman, enlarged in C15, restored 1871. Magnesian
limestone blocks with quoins, stone slate roof. West tower, nave with north
aisle and south porch, chancel with north chapel. The tower, said to be a
Norman heightening of a 2-storey Saxon porch (Pevsner) is of rubble finished
with ashlar at the belfry stage, is unbuttressed, and has on its south side a
Saxon doorway restored in 1871: a small round-headed opening with jambs and
head of large blocks, and projecting imposts decorated with fine interlacing,
the whole surrounded by a restored extrados band decorated with a carved vine
scroll, to the right of this is a small round-headed window with head carved
in one stone, and another on the level above, and below the change in masonry
a modern circular clockface. The west side has a C19 Saxon-style window,
and a small chamfered rectangular window above; the Norman belfry stage of
ashlar has in each side a louvred window of 2 lights with a colonette and
cushion capital, a corbel table and corner gargoyles, an embattled parapet
with crocketed corner pinnacles, and an octagonal spire. The short 3-bay
nave has in the centre a gabled C19 porch and at each side of this a 3-light
Perpendicular window, both with cusped lights and traceried heads, but that
on the right is slightly smaller and less regular, and that on the left has
a carved head over it; at a higher level in both parts are remains of small
round-headed windows, and to the right of the right-hand window the right
jamb of another taller window. The north aisle has two C15 windows with
deeply-chamfered surrounds, each of 3 arched lights with hollow spandrels.
The chancel has C19 openings: 3 lancets, a chamfered priest door, and a
5-light east window. The north chapel has a large recessed Perpendicular
east window of 3 cusped lights with traceried head.

Interior: at the west end of the nave a Norman round-headed tower arch, and
above this an earlier round-headed window, at the east end a restored Saxon
chancel arch, and in both sides at a high level remains of round-headed Saxon
windows; Perpendicular aisle arcade of 3 bays with octagonal columns which
have moulded caps and carry 2-centred double-chamfered arches; incorporated
in the north wall of the aisle, remains of Anglo-Saxon masonry with interlace
and cross; in the north chapel very fine family monuments with life-sized
effigies: Lady Mary Bolles (d.1662) recumbent on a tomb chest; Sir John and
Lady Lewis, 1677, by Thomas Cartwright, on 2 levels, reclining on a
sarcophagus; and Lady Elizabeth ("Betty") Hastings, 1739 by Peter
Schleemakers, reclining on a wall-mounted sarcophagus the pedestal beneath
this displaying a lengthy inscription in Latin, and the whole flanked by
free-standing figures of her step-sisters Piety and Prudence, each on a
similar pedestal, (all these of Ledston Hall, Ledston CP, Q.V,); window on
south side of chancel containing glass showing 3 achievements of Sir John
Lewis, probably by Henry Gyles of York (1640-1709).

Listing NGR: SE4565029774

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of All Saints, Ledsham at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17530517

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey