Description

SUNNINGWELL
SP4900
17/142 Church of St. Leonard
09/02/66
GV II*
Church. C13: late C15 tower, south transept and fenestration: west porch built
1571 for Bishop Jewel. Restored 1870 and 1902. Uncoursed limestone rubble with
ashlar dressings; lead roof, except old tiles to chancel roof. Chancel and nave
with south transept, transeptal north tower and heptagonal west porch. Late C13
three-light east window: 2-bay side walls of chancel have C15 ogee-headed
windows, divided by offset buttress to south. C15 south transept has 3-light
cinquefoil-headed windows except early C16 three-light segmental-arched west
window. 2-bay south wall of nave has similar C15 windows with restored mullions
and heads flanking blocked C13 two-light window without mullion: north wall of
nave has similar C15 windows. C15 three-stage transeptal north tower: C15 one-,
2- and 3-light windows and crenellated parapet with gargoyles. West porch of
1571 in Gothic and Classical style: Tudor-arched doorway with classical
entablature and cinquefoil-headed lights are divided by unfluted Ionic columns
surmounted by classical entablature. Interior: reredos, piscina and mosaic floor
of c.1870. Fine medieval-style floor tiles depict Revelations Chapter 4. C16
collar truss with king stud, and chancel arch of c.1902. Nave has Jacobean
pulpit, C15 octagonal pulpit and C17 bench-ends with huge poppyheads similar to
those at Radley Church (q.v.). C16 five-bay roof has arch braces springing from
vertical side struts into which are tenoned hollow-chamfered purlins with jowled
ends. C15 hollow-chamfered arch to north tower, which has narrow C15 doorway to
stairs. Similar double-chamfered arch to north transept which has C15 five-bay
parclose screen with foiled heads and early C18 panelled double-leaf doors.
Monuments: memorial reset in chancel floor to Margaret Fell, widow of Dean of
Christ Church, d.1657, and others of the Fell family. Late C17 plain oval wall
tablet to Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton, d.1632, and her children:
late C17 epitaph to their in-laws, the Baskervilles. Plain wall tablets in nave
to Blower family (early C18), Joseph Barnett, rector, d.1796, and Caroline
Stonehouse d.1810. Stained glass: mainly 1902. Fine east window by J.P. Seddon,
of The Adoration of the Shepherds and the Magi in Pre-Raphaelite style. The
porch was built for Bishop Jewel to commemorate his incumbency at Sunningwell
Parish before becoming Bishop of Salisbury.
(V.C.H.: Berkshire, Vol.IV, p.423; Buildings of England: Berkshire, p.234-5;
Bodleian Library M.S. Top. Berkshire. C51, no.108 for south view of church in
early C19; National Buildings Record).

Listing NGR: SP4957200532

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17550129

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas