Description

NEWTON ABBOT

SX8571SE WOLBOROUGH STREET 1012-1/13/156 (South side) 22/03/83 Church of St Leonard

GV II

Church. 1835 by Richard Millward, chancel and interior alterations 1876 by JW Rowell. MATERIALS: Devon limestone rubble with freestone dressings and slate roof, crested to the chancel. PLAN: rectangular 5-bay plan with chancel of 1876. EXTERIOR: central bay of the gabled 3-bay north-west facade facing Wolborough Street is stepped forward and flanked by octagonal turrets offset in 3 stages with crenellated crown-like parapets to the tops. Five lancet recesses to the apex have a louvred opening in the tallest central one. Moulded string courses above and at sill level of a large 4-light pointed-arched traceried window with alternate red and cream voussoirs, which is above planked doors in paired pointed arches with headstops to hoodmoulds and circular windows to the tympana. The outer ranges in the lower slopes of the gable have 2-light traceried windows above pointed-arched hoodmoulds to former doors (now blocked) with C20 windows. A wide flight of four granite steps is flanked by cast-iron bootscrapers. The chancel is of squared Devon limestone with cream freestone dressings. The returns have continuous dripmoulds with foliate terminal stops over five tall shallow-pointed 3-light windows with trefoils-headed lights. The late C19 vestry to the right of the right return has 2-light windows with quatrefoils between trefoil-headed lights and foliate stops to the hoodmoulds; to the far right are three granite steps to the shouldered-arched planked door with elaborate strap hinges. To the rear is a single-storey lean-to with flat arches to 3-light windows. INTERIOR: 5-bay nave has been divided by a large concertina screen to form a hall to the front. The gallery above has been half ceiled over. The whole unaltered shallow-pitched nave ceiling is panelled with foliate bosses to the angles and two circular ventilation roses; a panelled gallery to the sides and north-west end is supported on slender ribbed cast-iron columns with masks and animals to the capitals. The rest is mostly of late C19 character including the pews. The floor to the nave is boarded, the choir and chancel have a polychromatic tiled floor; the choir, with pointed stone arches housing organ pipes on the left, is separated from the nave by a stone quatrefoil-panelled plinth to wrought-iron railings with steps and double gates to the centre. To the left is an octagonal marble pulpit with a foliate cornice over statues of saints and bishops in trefoil-headed recesses in each facet, to the right is a wrought-iron lectern. The wide moulded chancel arch rests on polished paired red marbled colonettes on corbels. The chancel (1876) has 3-light clerestorey windows, a richly-painted panelled ceiling, a three-light stained-glass window and as brass communion rail. The south chapel has an octagonal font with quatrefoil panels to the top, trefoil-headed panels to the shaft and rounded moulding to the base. Entrance hall has a shallow groin vault (1835) and l876 doors, gallery stairs and balusters with chamfered arrises to diagonal framing over planking. HISTORY: this church was built to replace the C15 Church of St Leonard in Wolborough Street, demolished except for the tower (qv) in 1836 for road widening. (BoE: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Devon: London: 1989-: 584).



Listing NGR: SX8568271128

External Links

• Wikidata Q26548177

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