Description

SO 75 SE
2/36

LEIGH CP
Church of St Eadburga

29.07.59

I
Church. C12 and C13 with C14 tower. Restored 1855. Sandstone rubble and ashlar with tile roof. Comprises a west tower with west porch, nave, south aisle under a pitched roof, and lower chancel.

The tower has diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet. The bell openings are of two trefoiled ogee lights with a quatrefoil under a pointed head. The west window is of four cinquefoiled lights and has C19 Perpendicular tracery. The open timber porch is probably C15. The principal posts at west side are doubled, the inner posts jowled to form a pointed arch. The inner truss has curved braces to a steeply cambered tie beam. The west doorway of the tower is pointed and hollow-chamfered in two orders.

The north wall of the nave has three C14 windows of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil under a pointed head. The buttresses have offsets, except for those to each side of the eastern bay which are C12 stepped pilaster buttresses. Between the second and third windows is a blocked doorway with Tudor-arched head. Above is an empty niche with round head roll-moulded in two orders which springs from angle shafts with cushion capitals. The west wall of the south aisle contains a trefoiled one-light window. The east wall has a lancet to each side of a buttress. The south wall is C19, of four bays with two-light windows. At the left is a pointed chamfered doorway.

The north wall of the chancel has three one-light windows chamfered in two orders. The western one is pointed; the others have trefoiled heads. Between them are two stepped pilaster buttresses. The south wall has two windows of one trefoiled light, a stepped pilaster buttress, and a C19 pointed doorway. The east window is of five lights with Geometrical tracery, renewed in the C19.

INTERIOR: the pointed tower arch is chamfered in two orders which die into the responds. The south aisle is of four bays and has pointed arches with two square orders springing from round piers with scalloped capitals. The responds are paired engaged shafts with crocket capitals. The nave has a collar-rafter roof with soulaces and three tie beams. The chancel arch is chamfered in two orders and springs from responds each with a central and two angle shafts with cushion capitals. The south aisle overlaps the chancel. Its east end is divided by a painted screen which incorporates C15 woodwork and has openings with traceried ogee heads. The south wall contains an ogee-headed doorway to a rood stair. Set above the altar of this south chapel is a statue of Christ removed from the niche in the north wall of the nave during the mid C20. This is said to be an altered coffin lid with an effigy of c1220 (Pevsner).

The font appears to be Norman, although re-cut, and has chevron decoration and ropework moulding. The chancel contains a trefoiled piscina and has communion rails with turned balusters of c1700. On the south side is the chest tomb of Edmundus Colles (died 1606), with recumbent effigy, the sides carved with coats of arms, caryatids, and atlantes.

Above is a wall monument with strapwork, figures, a coat of arms, and pediment with shell. Against the north wall is a wall monument to William (died 1615) and Mary (died 1602) Colles, with two kneeling figures within an arched opening, a shield of arms, and 11 children carved on the base. Further west is an alabaster memorial to Sir Walter and Lady Elizabeth Devreux, erected in 1642, with recumbent effigies below a canopy supported on Ionic columns. Above it is a large wall monument to Essex Devreux (died 1639) with two kneeling figures, and a child seated on a ledge.

Listing NGR: SO7842153456

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17530314

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

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)