Church Heritage Record 606326

West tower with WC and small kitchen in tower base. 3-bay aisled nave with south porch. Chancel with north chapel and south organ chamber. 

[Approximate] Nave 16m (52½ft) x 7m (23ft), aisles 3m (10ft) wide, chancel 10m (33ft) x 5m (16½ft)

Leeds village is referenced in the Domesday Book, where it is called ‘Esledes’. Until the Dissolution, the parish belonged to the Priory of Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas founded by Robert de Crevecoeur for Augustinian Canons in 1119, the site of which is a short distance to the south-west and was excavated in 1973. Queen Elizabeth I gave the advowson to the Archbishop of Canterbury in whose personal gift the living remained until 1793. The Archbishop remains patron of the living. A board inside the church records priors since 1175 and vicars since 1557.

The church has a complex archaeology and history. A great deal has been written about the church, including histories and a NADFAS record which can be referred to for further information.

In summary, a Saxon church was built on the site (remains of high level windows in north-west corner), to which was added a substantial tower c.1130 (reputed to be one of the largest 12th century towers in Kent - Vigar), followed by north and south aisles, and a chancel in the 13th century. North and south chapels were added to the chancel in the 15th century and alterations made in the 16th or early 17th centuries. The church was restored in 1878, by the architect Gordon Hills, as recorded in a brass plaque south of the tower arch. An ICBS grant was approved towards the works which saw the insertion of new east windows to the north and south chancel aisles alongside general repairs and reseating of the nave. A wooden spire was added to the tower in 1963 though there are references to a steeple as early as 1492 and a small spire was removed in 1932. A plaque records that the north chapel was ‘beautified’ in 1932.

Further repairs, under A W Swaine architect, received an ICBS grant in 1962-3. In 1980 the tower was refurbished. A floor was inserted to create a meeting room above a foyer. A WC (improved in 2012) and small kitchen were installed. Alterations to the nave in 1993 levelled the floor and inserted a platform across the width of the church to the west of the rood screen. The stone pulpit was demolished and replaced.

The archaeological potential of the site is considerable. The churchyard is a designated local wildlife site and is included within the Leeds Lower Street conservation area. It contains mature trees and an ancient yew.

The substantial west tower dominates views of the church on approach from the west, although its squat dimensions (only 1½ times its width) reduces its wider landscape presence.

The towers’ mass is exaggerated by sturdy stepped buttresses either side of the west door which is set between slender colonnettes. Two pointed lancets are in the wall above, with a clock face centrally positioned in the upper section. At a low level on the north side are a blocked pointed lancet window and a blocked square-headed window with iron grille. Large round-headed windows are positioned at a higher level in the north and south walls - that to the south has a sundial above it. The tower has a crenelated parapet behind which a spire rises; louvred dormers at its base are just visible from some angles.

Viewed from the east, the church has a complex composition of roofs. Lean-to aisles meet the nave roof at a slight angle, its east gable stands proud and has a stone cross finial at its apex. The chancel roof is lower and has crested ridge tiles. Extending to its north side is the flat-roofed chapel, higher than the nave, lower than the chancel. To the south is a gabled chapel at a different height.

The north nave elevation has two-tier buttresses and two 2-light trefoil headed windows with a quatrefoil. A cornice and parapet continues around the nave and north chapel. The chapel, which extends further than the nave, has 3-light perpendicular windows to north and east. There is an early 18th century pedimented wall monument, to Elizabeth Meredith, attached to the east wall (listed).

The east gable has a 3-light perpendicular window beneath a hood-mould. To its south the chapel appears to be a simple gabled extension of the south aisle, positioned beyond a large buttress. It has no parapet like the north chapel and has a 2-light perpendicular window to the east and 3-light perpendicular window to the south - this has a wooden priest’s door beneath it. The south aisle has two 2-light ogee headed windows and another 2-light window in the west wall. A south porch, with lancet in the gable, extends from the south-west corner. It has a surmounting stone cross finial.

Entry is possible through the west door, where there is a temporary ramp that can be used, but is regularly through the south porch where there is a single step up into the church. The interior is large and has a tall narrow 3-bay arcaded nave. The arcades rest on octagonal stone piers with concave sides. Walls are plastered and painted white with exposed stone surrounds and piers.

At the west end a high Norman arch of three orders with scalloped capitals opens into the west tower. Though it appears to be of two stages externally, the tower has five levels inside. Inserted into it at ground level and accessed through double doors, with a Royal Arms above, is a lobby used for meetings. It has a small concealed kitchen and modern WC to the south side. Carpet is laid over flagstones. Outside of the partitioning, a wide staircase leads up around the south side to a tower room or library. The space is carpeted with a fireplace in the north wall and an inserted ceiling. The room is predominantly used for storage. Another door at the base on the north side leads up to the bell chambers and clock tower.       

The nave has a level woodblock floor beneath the seating areas, which consist of wooden chairs, with paving and ledger stones set in the aisle floors. The roof is formed by a crown-post structure with modern traceried wall-braces. It dates to the 15th century but has been much reconstructed. The ceiling behind is painted white. The six trusses come to rest on stone corbels high above the piers. In the spandrels below are modern armorial shields. Modern electric spotlights are fitted above the apex of each arch. A single 18th century brass chandelier hangs centrally above the east end of the nave.

In the north-west corner there is an open lancet window in the west wall, hidden behind a wooden screen (previously located in the Lady Chapel and thought to have originated from Leeds Castle) which hides a storage area. An area to its south is laid out for children with upholstered furniture resembling something from a train carriage. The remains of high level late Saxon windows, evidence of an aisleless nave, are above the north arcade. These were uncovered in the late-19th century [referenced in Pevsner, NADFAS and church guide]. In the south-west corner is a font raised on a stone step. A holy water stoop is set in the wall east of the south door.

An impressive carved oak screen stretches across the east end of the nave and aisles, now lifted on the raised pine boarded platform inserted in the 1980s, up to which is a single step. Photos from the 1940s show a wooden cross fixed above the centre of the screen which is no longer there. A blocked rood doorway is situated in the south-east corner of the aisle. Behind the screen a tall perpendicular chancel arch rises. Further pointed arches in the north and south aisles access chapels to north and south of the chancel.

The north chapel has several good 17th and 18th century tablets and monuments. Decorative encaustic floor tiles are laid in the floor on entry from the aisle, before the level rises and wood boards are laid with carpet in the aisle with chairs to either side. An altar table is raised at the east end. The space is lit by a modern circular ring of electric lights. There is a squint in the south wall looking through to the chancel. A parclose screen, covered by a curtain, separates the chapel from the choir.

The choir has late-19th century oak stalls to north and south, the aisle is carpeted. Another parclose screen along the south side screens the chapel which sits behind a round arch. The chapel is partially occupied by the organ, whose pipes are visible above the screen from the choir. It has a step to the east side, contains some monuments and is used as a vestry.

The chancel is raised by three wide stone steps laid with 19th century encaustic tiles with text displayed on the risers. Carpet continues up the aisle from the choir. The chancel has a timber barrel-vaulted roof with a carved central boss. In the south wall is a 14th century piscina and 16th century sedilia which also functions as a squint from the south chapel. High in the north and south walls of the sanctuary is a small round-headed window. The altar is raised by another step and has a curtain on the wall behind it.