St Leonard

St Leonard’s has all the appearances of a typical Nottinghamshire country church, but the picture is more complicated than this. Its history and development span more than eight centuries, but five special features make it distinctive.

Despite its now suburban location in Nottingham its churchyard retains all the seclusion and atmosphere of its rural past.

The west tower was originally pierced by a passageway, Unlike a dozen or so other examples in England this was not only blocked up after the Reformation, but opened again by the Victorians and enclosed yet again with glazing in the twentieth century.

Inside there are numerous memorials, mainly to the Willoughby family who for 600 years have been the church’s patrons. The two earliest monuments each contain a cadaver or stone representation of a corpse.

There are fewer than forty examples in England and Wollaton is the only parish church with more than one. The renowned early architect Robert Smythson, who designed neighbouring Wollaton Hall and other houses in the 1500s, has a striking memorial in every way. It contrasts with the non-existent commemoration of his client, Sir Francis Willoughby, who died in obscurity, and the exquisite but diminutive alabaster tablet to his later employer, Bridget Willoughby.

There are seven stained glass windows ranging from four easily recognised as the work of Kempe to two with a different Arts and Crafts feel by Christopher Whall and a small abstract design by Hardman of 1972.

Wollaton’s most notable possession is its 15th century illuminated book of services, the Wollaton Antiphonal, a rare survival now deposited with the University of Nottingham. A digitised version is always available in church (and on line) and offers detailed interpretation of its design, content and music.