St. Leonard's page 4.htm

St. Leonard's

A treasure of St Leonard's not often seen is the memorial brass under the chancel carpet. This depicts a lady of the Hay dock family and her two daughters, dressed in the fashionable clothes of the yeoman's wife of their day - farthingales and ruffs with the familiar late Elizabethan cap headdresses. The daughters are shown dutifully kneeling. The brasses are in fine condition but although the Tudor roses at the corners are intact some of the inscription has been lost and now reads as follows: '.... 1608 of XI Day of...'

Other features of interest are the brass ceremonial cross and the telescopic communion rail of 1872. There are also several brass plates which remember people who have given service to the church, the most recent being in memory of Peter Holmes, choirmaster from 1971 to 1996 and still very much missed by the choir and congregation.

Brass ceremonial cross and Communion rail

The Nave

At the east end of the nave is the other main focal point of the church, a fine Jacobean carved and panelled oak pulpit. The teaching and preaching of the Word of God, the Bible, was reinstated at the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, and a raised pulpit enabled the preacher to be seen and heard.

Jacobean carved and panelled oak pulpit

The brass lectern (reading desk, from which the Bible is read) is of the late Victorian period. The two windows to the right of the blocked-in north doorway also date from this time. An ancient stoup (water-basin) in this former doorway makes an attractive niche for the flower arrangers. To the left is a good perpendicular window, which, like the one opposite, contains fragments of medieval glass. On the threshold of this former doorway, but only seen from the outside of the church, are the marks left by the many feet that once entered the church this way.

The brass lectern

The perpendicular styled font is carved with Tudor roses in lozenge shaped carved sections. As in most churches, the font is near the door, symbolising entry into the family of God. It is quite large, since infants were originally dipped into the water, rather than sprinkled as they usually are today. Water for the baptisms was originally taken from the fern-lined well of Church Cottage, opposite the church. While you are by the font, look up at the nearby pillar. There is a small carved head of a monk on the north side.

Perpendicular styled font

The wooden pews

The wooden pews were put in at the end of the nineteenth century but the kneelers were placed there a hundred years later. They were worked by members of the congregation and donated in memory of friends or family. The folding padded kneeler was put there by Mr Ebenezer Morse, for the use of his family early in the 20th century.

The hanging oil lamps were converted to electricity, but became redundant in 1998 when a new lighting system was installed.

The hanging oil lamps

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