St Leonard's Church, Berwick St Leonard

St Leonard's Church
Location Berwick St Leonard, Wiltshire, England
Coordinates 51°05′51″N 2°06′37″W / 51.09750°N 2.11028°W / 51.09750; -2.11028Coordinates: 51°05′51″N 2°06′37″W / 51.09750°N 2.11028°W / 51.09750; -2.11028
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: Church of St. Leonard
Designated 6 January 1966[1]
Reference no. 320783
Location of St Leonard's Church in Wiltshire

St Leonard's Church in Berwick St Leonard, Wiltshire, England, was built in the 12th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building,[1] and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.[2] It was declared redundant on 22 June 1973, and was vested in the Trust on 9 June 1976.[3]

The manor was held by Shaftesbury Abbey's manor of Tisbury. The right of advowson was later held by a variety of individuals, including a dispute over the right between John Benett and John Maclntyre, a general serving the East India Company during the early 19th century.[4]

The small church was built of flint and limestone, in the 12th century. The three bay nave is 33 feet 6 inches (10.21 m) by 16 feet 4 inches (4.98 m), while the chancel is just 18 feet 9 inches (5.72 m) long and 13 feet 3 inches (4.04 m) wide. The entrance is beneath the small two-stage south tower which was added in the 14th century,[5][4] and is supported by diagonal buttresses. The tower holds two bells dating from 1725 and 1766. The church roof is tiled in a fishscale pattern.[1] Monuments inside the church include those to George Howe, who dies in 1647, and his six children.[6] The cylindrical stone font with a brass cover and a sculptured relief of the Lamb of God over the south doorway date from the Norman era.[2][1]

By the 19th century the fabric of the building was decaying and, in 1859 a major restoration was undertaken. The parish was combined with Fonthill Bishop in 1916 and subsequently became part of a larger team parish.[5] The church was closed in 1966.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Historic England, "Church of St. Leonard (1318783)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 7 April 2015
  2. 1 2 St Leonard's Church, Berwick, Wiltshire, Churches Conservation Trust, retrieved 31 March 2011
  3. ↑ Diocese of Salisbury: All Schemes (PDF), Church Commissioners/Statistics, Church of England, 2011, pp. 1–2, retrieved 31 March 2011
  4. 1 2 "Parishes: Berwick St Leonard". A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 13: South-west Wiltshire: Chalke and Dunworth hundreds. British History Online. 1987. pp. 100–105. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  5. 1 2 "Church of St. Leonard, Berwick St. Leonard". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "St Leonard's Church, Berwick". Visit Wiltshire. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  7. ↑ "Fonthill Bishop". Nadder Valley Focus. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
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