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

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26548177

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

• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]