St Leonard's Church is a

redundant church A redundant church, now referred to as a closed church, is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused churche ...

in Spernall,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and is under the care of the

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches (FoFC) is a registered charity formed in 1957, active in England and Wales, which campaigns for and rescues redundant historic places of worship threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. As ...

Early history

The first documentary evidence of the church is in the 1190s, and much of its fabric, including the

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 ...

arch, and some of the glass, dates back to the 12th century. Additions and amendments were made in the 14th century. The northwest corner of the

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 ...

was rebuilt in brick in the 18th century. The porch was initially

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

, but was rebuilt in 1802 and again in 1847. In or around 1844 the

, and the

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

were added. The bellcote replaced and earlier pyramidal cap. Oak seating and

panelling Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity ...

were installed in the church in 1935.

Architecture

The nave is constructed in

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with some brick, and the chancel is in lias. The nave is roofed with old tiles, while the tiles roofing the chancel are from the 20th century. The plan of the church consists of a two-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

nave and a single-bay chancel with a south porch that was used as a

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

. At the west end is a single

. The chancel measures by . The east window is a

wheel window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

, and on the side walls are small round-headed windows. The nave measures by and contains two windows and a doorway in both the north and the south walls; the doorway in the south wall opens into a porch. At the west end is a two-light window. The communion rails date from the 18th century, while the

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 ...

and other furnishings are later. The north door dates from 1535 and is described as "a work of national interest". The door was damaged in 1994 by vandals, but it still retains its original uprights and wooden

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

, and a ring pull set in a lion's mouth. At one time there was a

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

added in 1818, but this has disappeared. There is a single bell that was cast from the two bells present before the restoration of 1844. The church plate includes a cup

hallmark A hallmark is an official Mark (sign), mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''Wikti ...

ed London 1655. The parish registers date from 1562, but are incomplete before 1666.

Recent history and present day

The church was closed and declared redundant in 1972. The

Diocese of Coventry The Diocese of Coventry is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Coventry, who sits at Coventry Cathedral in Coventry, and is assisted by one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Warwick. The dioce ...

applied to convert it into a house but this was declined and in 1976 the diocese applied for demolition. The Friends of Friendless Churches and the

Ancient Monuments Society The Ancient Monuments Society (AMS) is a learned society and registered charity in England and Wales, founded in 1924 "for the study and conservation of ancient monuments, historic buildings and fine old craftsmanship". Since October 2021, the or ...

took an interest in conserving it. At the time the Friends of Friendless Churches did not have sufficient funds to purchase it, and on 29 August 1980 it was bought by the Ancient Monuments Society. It is the only church to have been owned by this society. Repairs undertaken at this time included the rebuilding of a section of the nave, and the re-roofing of the chancel; this cost £4,000. Further repairs were undertaken in 2004 which included reconstruction of the porch and bellcote, using original material as much as possible, and the re-roofing of part of the nave roof. This cost about £25,000 and was paid for by the Friends of Friendless Churches. Further work on the chancel was planned to take place in 2010. Since 1983 the artist Nicholas Jones has been using the church as a workshop.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spernall, Saint Leonard 12th-century church buildings in England 14th-century church buildings in England Grade II* listed churches in Warwickshire Churches preserved by the Friends of Friendless Churches