Details
LEEK
SJ9856NW CHURCH STREET
611-1/4/36 (North side)
13/04/51 Parish Church of St Edward The
Confessor
(Formerly Listed as:
CHURCH STREET
Parish Church of St Edward)
GV II*
Parish church. Parts of the fabric possibly late C13, but
substantially later with some C15-C16 work including
fenestration of aisles, and 2 C19 restorations, the first by
Ewan Christian, then a major restoration and rebuilding of the
chancel by Street in 1867.
MATERIALS: roughly coursed and squared rubble with leaded and
banded slate roofs. W tower, nave with 2 short aisles and
clerestory, chancel.
STYLE: W tower has C14 W door but is largely Perpendicular.
EXTERIOR: 2 stages with clasping buttresses and embattled
parapet with corbels and angle pinnacles. High lower stage
with Decorated W door, and 2-light Decorated window recut in
C19 above. Clock on S face. Paired bell chamber lights in
upper stage. Lozenge frieze below embattled parapet.
S porch dated 1670 with flat roof and embattled parapet, and
Mannerist decoration to heavy voussoirs of round-headed
archway. Aisles occupy the eastern length of the nave only
(earlier full-length aisles possibly truncated during the
C16). Fenestration of surviving aisles suggests a C15 date,
but the fabric may be earlier, and a blocked round-arched
doorway in the N aisle may also indicate an earlier date.
C16 clerestory with 4-paired trefoiled lights in eastern
section of nave over aisles. W of the S porch, windows on 2
storeys indicating gallery within.
S aisle has shallow gabled roof with embattled parapet,
probably C16. To the north, changes in the masonry suggest
that western end of nave has been raised in height. Its upper
windows are C19 and square-headed, with wide lancet windows
below, probably of earlier date.
N porch added 1838 against the W wall of the N aisle. Massive
buttressing to N aisle, with blocked door towards the west.
3-light window with simple geometric tracery, and rose window
towards east. E wall of aisle has wide 5-light Decorated
window.
Chancel with lean-to vestry to south. Remains of medieval
masonry visible in N wall which also clearly reveals that
Street's rebuilding represented an extension of the length of
the original chancel. Big 5-light E window in a Decorated
style. Chancel chapel or organ chamber to S, with 3-light
window set high in E wall, S doorway and 3-light window with
hoodmould forming continuous string course. 3-bay S aisle with
porch towards W end, rose window to E, and central 3-light
window. Sundial over rose window dated 1815.
INTERIOR: nave arcade of 3 bays towards E only. These
truncated aisles themselves were of 4 bays until the early
C19. Western end of nave filled by a late C18 or early C19
gallery (shown on a plan of 1816) raked back to E wall of
tower, carried on wood Doric columns, and approached by stairs
to the S. Western bay of nave below gallery, and base of tower
itself now screened off to form meeting rooms etc. Octagonal
piers to nave arcade (early C19 replacements of earlier
cylindrical piers), and double chamfered arches. Engaged
shafts sprung from corbels to chancel arch.
C16 nave roof restored c1856 by Ewan Christian, with deep
panels between moulded principals, purlins and ridge, with
bosses at their intersections.
Wide N aisle forms separate chapel with early C20 dado
panelling and reredos. Blocked round-arched N doorway.
Stained glass in E window of chapel dated 1878; Morris and
Co.; rose window to N also with glass by Morris and Co. Brass
set into E wall, 1597, John Ashenburst and his 4 wives. S
aisle narrower than the north, with Morris and Co. glass in E
window, and in the rose window which is a memorial to Dame
Elizabeth Wardle, d1902.
Wall memorial to members of the Bulkeley family, early C18.
Marble font in S aisle dated 1867; octagonal with heavily
recessed panels with inlaid reliefs depicting the baptism and
its Old Testament precursors. Low marble screen to chancel,
which has encaustic tiled floor and barrel vaulted panelled
ceiling.
Enriched timber pulpit, octagonal and corbelled out from a
narrow base; canopied niches in each face carry statues carved
by Earpe to designs of Street.
Cast-iron screen in stone tracery filling 2-bay arcade to
organ chamber to S. Cast-iron and brass altar rails. Marble
reredos with central inlaid cross and figures of saints in
canopied niches each side. Simpler marble wall panelling
continues across sanctuary.
The fittings all designed by Street. Windows have stained
glass possibly by Clayton and Bell, the colours now badly
faded. Similar glass in S window of S aisle chapel.
The church is also notable for its examples of the work of the
Leek School of Embroidery, including altar frontals and an
embroidered panel depicting part of the Hierarchy of Angels.
(Meeson R: Parish Church of St Edward, Leek).
Listing NGR: SJ9832556630
