Description

LEIGHTON AND EATON LEIGHTON
SJ 60 NW
CONSTANTINE C.P.
2/89 Church of St Mary
13.6.58
GV II*

Parish church. 1714-16 but incorporating medieval plan and fabric,
restored mid- to late C19. C18 red brick on coursed sandstone plinth
(probably medieval), plain tile roofs with coped verges. Nave, chancel,
west belfry, south porch and south-west vestry. Nave: in 2 bays;
south side has one late C19 two-light trefoil-headed window with cusped
multifoils and trefoils above, C18 gabled porch and contemporary gabled
vestry adjoining to west have round-headed doorways (blind to vestry)
and pointed cast-iron windows to sides; north side has 2 round-headed
windows (c.1714), western with its original Y-tracery; tall narrow
multi-paned round-headed west window has similar small opening above;
weatherboarded belfry probably late C18 but considerably restored late
C20, has twin round-headed openings (?C19) to north, south and west
sides, pyramidal roof. Chancel: one late C19 narrow round-headed
window on south with blocked segmental-headed C18 doorway to west;
late C19 east window of 3 stepped round-headed lights with narrow
round-arched window above; north wall blind. Interior: most striking
feature is that the walls are of uncoursed sandstone rubble showing
that the C18 brick on exterior is in fact only the encasement of a
medieval fabric; cambered south doorway with ledged plank door, C18
coved plaster ceiling; west gallery (also c.1714), supported on
wooden posts, has elegant turned balusters; plain round-headed chancel
arch flanked by C18 hatchment to south and royal coat-of-arms to north;
late C18 urn-shaped font on moulded stone pillar, contemporary hexagonal
pulpit and late C19 stained glass in east window, restored C17 communion
table. Monuments: in nave; cast-iron floor tablet to William Browne
(died 1696) and another (dated 1677) with inscription panels removed;
in chancel (south side), late C13 cross-legged stone effigy of knight,
probably a member of the Leighton family, retaining traces of paint
and with feet resting on a lion; north side, large alabaster tomb
chest with incised top slab to William Leighton (died 1520) and wife;
large C18 wall memorials to members of the Kynnersley and Leighton
families that to Elizabeth Leighton (died 1754) by William Baker; in
the centre of the north wall a prominent memorial to Thomas Kynnersley
(died 1843), substantial pedestal with coat-of-arms and Greek key
ornament to top, surmounted by draped urn, signed by J. Evan Thomas;
another mid-C18 wall memorial to south of chancel arch in nave; C18
stone texts (one reciting Ten Commandments) hang on nave north and
south walls and in the porch is a wooden board recording benefactions
to the church; slab on north wall of nave commemorating Henry Binnell,
vicar (died 1717), formerly below east window outside. A priest is
recorded at Leighton in Domesday. B.o.E., p.165; D.H.S. Cranage,
The Churches of Shropshire, Part 7 (1905), Pp.596-7 and Appendix
Pp.995-6; Colvin, p.84.

Listing NGR: SJ6128105144

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17540223

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide