Overview
St Leonard's Church is a redundant Anglican church in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
History
The present church originated in the 12th century. A tower was added to it in 1448. During the Civil War the Roundheads used the north aisle of the church to store ammunition, and this was ignited by a shot from a cannon in 1646. As a result, the north aisle and the eastern part of the south aisle were destroyed. The roof of the nave was rebuilt in 1662, but the aisles were not fully restored at that time. In 1826 the chancel was repaired by Thomas Rickman, and it was further restored in 1846–47 by F. J. Francis. A major reconstruction of the church was undertaken from 1860 by W. Slater and R. H. Carpenter. They rebuilt the church in Geometrical style rather than in the Perpendicular style of the earlier church. In 1870–73 Slater and Carpenter substantially rebuilt the tower, this time in Perpendicular style.
An octagonal library was added to the north side of the chancel in 1878. By the 1970s the tower had become unsafe, and in 1976 the church was declared redundant. It was vested in the Churches Conservation Trust in 1980.
Exterior
St Leonard's is constructed in local red Bunter sandstone, and has clay tile roofs. The tower is in three stages separated by string courses, with diagonal buttresses, and a northwest polygonal stair turret with a crocketted spirelet. Its lower stage contains the entrance to the church through a south doorway leading into a porch. Above this is a large five-light window. In the middle stage is a statue of Saint Leonard in a niche. The top stage contains paired two-light bell openings. The parapet is embattled with eight crocketted pinnacles. Most of the windows in the aisles have three lights. At the west end of the nave is a doorway above which is a pair of three-light windows. The south wall of the chancel has three three-light windows, the central one being shorter and over a priest's door. The east window has four lights.
On the north wall of the chancel are two windows, a squint, and a link to the library. The library has a pyramidal roof, and simple two-light mullioned windows, alternating with tall two-light dormers.
Interior
Inside the church there is a five-bay north arcade and a four-bay south arcade. The arcades are carried on circular piers with capitals carved with foliage by S. Poole. On the south side, one of the bays is divided by a pier. This has a carving of the Expulsion from Eden on its capital, and in the tympanum of the main arch is a carving in a roundel of the Annunciation to the shepherds; both are by James Redfern. In south wall of the chancel is a double piscina and a stepped sedilia. There are hammerbeam roofs in the nave, the south aisle, and the chancel. The north aisle has a tie-beam roof, and there is a lierne vault in the base of the tower. The walls of the nave and aisles are covered in red-brown plaster, while those in the tower and chancel are bare. The nave is floored with red and black tiles, with raised wooden floors under the pews.
The chancel floor contains memorial mosaics and tiles, while the sanctuary has encaustic tiles. There is a ring of eight bells. Five of these were cast in 1681 by Thomas Roberts, and the other three are by John Warner & Sons, two are dated 1874 and the other one is dated 1895.
See also
*List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in the English Midlands