Description

TF 41 SW
6/27

LEVERINGTON
GOREFIELD ROAD (North Side)
Church of St Leonard

23.6.52

GV
I
Parish church. The lower stages of the tower and part of the south wall and arcading between chancel and south chapel are mid C13, the south aisle and porch are C14. The C13 nave was rebuilt in C15 when the north aisle was added. Particularly noteworthy are the west tower and spire,south porch and the monuments in the south chapel.

West tower of Barnack ashlar. Embattled and of four stages on splayed plinth with octagonal turrets at the eaves. Four stage angle buttressing with newel staircases in south west and north west angles.C14 gabled west doorway. Two centred arch, hollow and roll moulded orders,the roll moulding carried on an attached shaft with moulded capital and base. In the gable is a niche with a figure, probably of a priest. The first stage of the west wall has two lancets with banded angle shafts and there is similar arcading of three bays with the central bay pierced on the north and south walls. Second stage has similar fenestration but there are three banded angle shafts between the lancets. In the east wall similar openings are blocked by the later roof of the nave. C14 bell stage. Two centred arch to two trefoil openings with a foiled head.

C14 spire of Barnack ashlar with three tiers of gabled spite lights. Nave, rebuilt C15 of coursed Barnack with low pitch, roof of C19 slates.Clerestory of six windows, each of three cinquefoil lights in four centred heads. South aisle, C14, with C15 embattled parapet to roof and C15 fenestration of five windows, each of three cinquefoil lights. Fine south porch with parvise room above, C14, restored 1939.

Rubble with coursed stone to buttressing and newel staircase in north west corner. Gabled roof with parapet and running foliate ornament to ridge and gable, with the corners and apex surmounted by a finial. Two storeys. Niche in gable end, cinquefoil head in ogee arch with ornament and flanked by square piers above a C14 window of two cinquefoil lights in an ogee arch.The outer archway has hollow and roll mouldings in an ogee arch and is flanked by two similar C14 niches.

The interior of the porch is in two bays with quadripartite vaulting springing from attached shafts with embattled capitals.South chapel,C13 origins but rebuilt C14.Three windows, one blocked, others restored. Of three cinquefoil lights in a pointed arch. The east window is of five lights with decorated tracery in a two-centred arch.

Chancel, C14. The south wall has one window of three lights with transom forming a low side,with vertical tracery and two-centred arch.

Interior. The north and south walls of the tower have at first and second stages deep splays to reveals of centre window openings. Doorway to newel staircase with two-centred arch of single chamfered order.Tower arch, C15 of three hollow moulded orders with stiff-leaf foliate capitals on attached shafts with moulded bases. Nave, north and south arcades of six bays, C15. Two-centred arches of single hollow moulded order with moulded label contrived as attached shaft to piers. Each pier, square, set diagonally, with attached shafts to two angles,moulded capitals and bases. The attached shafts are carried up and terminate in corbels for jack-posts of the roof. The gable end of the C13 roof can be seen in the east wall of the tower. Chancel, C14 with C15 fenestration to north and south walls and a C13 arcade of two bays between chancel and south chapel. Two-centred, hollow and roll moulded arches on columns of four grouped shafts with moulded capitals and bases.

Sedilia, C14 of three bays. Two-centred,hollow moulded orders. Communion rail, mid-late C17. Twisted balusters with moulded rail. Lectern, late C15, restored. In form of eagle, and of wood, painted.

Glazing. East window of north aisle, Tree of Jesse, C15,restored 1900. In south chapel pieta with kneeling saints and donors, C15, reset.

Wall monuments in south chapel. Thomas Crosse, 1633, John Cross, 1743, Daniel Swain,1782, and Mary his wife,1804. Spelman Swain,1761. Mary Swaine, 1731, and John Swaine, 1752.

Font C15. Octagonal with sides carved with seated figures in niches with cinquefoil heads and crocketed gables. The soffit of the bowl and the stem and base are also carved

Listing NGR: TF4448511403

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527738

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide