St Leonard's Church is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

in the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

Hartley Mauditt Hartley Mauditt is an abandoned village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is south of the village of East Worldham, Hampshire, East Worldham, and southeast of Alton, Hampshire, Alton, just east of the B3006 road. It is i ...

East Hampshire East Hampshire is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Petersfield, although the largest town is Alton. The district also contains the town of Bordon along with many villages and surroundin ...

district of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. All that is left of the hamlet is the 12th-century church, the foundations of a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, and a large pond, Hartley Pond, which lies opposite the church on the other side of the road. The church is dedicated to St Leonard. St Leonards inside

History

The small church was constructed after the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, but its original simplicity was lost with subsequent workmanship, which was out of character with the style of the original building. It was probably built by the de Mauditt family between 1100 and 1125. It was restored and a bell

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

on the west gable was added in 1853–4.

Architecture and fittings

St Leonard's consists of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, and south porch. The 13th century chancel contains some ancient monuments of the Stuart family. The chancel arch separating the small chancel from the larger nave is a rare example of the horseshoe form. Some good tiles on the chancel floor are notable. There are 34 tiles set in two lines on the chancel floor with seven designs. On the top of the East wall of the Nave above the chancel arch is a painting of a Lion and Unicorn with the initials "CIIR" (Charles the Second Rex) at the top. Charles the second reigned from 1660 to 1685. The south doorway dates from the end of the 12th century. The octagonal

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

is of

Decorated Period English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

style, 15th century. Several of the windows contain

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

References

{{Reflist 1125 establishments in England