© Clent PCC 2019
Clent Church - as it used to be
“The church of ST. LEONARD
consists of a chancel 23 ft. by 15
ft., with an organ chamber on the
north, a nave 46 ft. by 15 ft.,
north and south aisles, the latter
12 ft. wide, a west tower 11 ft.
by 10½ ft., the ground floor of
which is used as a vestry, and a
south porch. These
measurements are all internal. The
12th-century church probably
consisted of a chancel and nave
only, to which a south aisle was
added about 1170. There is no
evidence of further structural
alterations until early in the
15th century, when the tower was
built and the south aisle
widened, the chancel being reconstructed about 1440. The
north aisle was added in 1837, but this, together with the nave,
was rebuilt during the years 1864–5. The organ chamber and
porch were erected at the same time.
The chancel axis inclines to the south. In the east wall is an
original traceried window of five lights, with a segmental-
pointed head ribbed on the inside and ornamented at the apex
with a small carved angel holding what appears to be a paten. The
external hood is finished with a finial. In the west end of the
north wall a modern arch opens into the organ chamber. The
chancel is lit from the south by two square-headed two-light
windows, the inner jambs of which are splayed below, but
shouldered at the head. Under the sill of the easternmost is
an ogee-headed piscina. The basin appears to have been
quatrefoiled, but has been broken off flush with the wall face.
Between the windows is a very flat ogee-headed doorway of the
same date as the chancel, the external label of which returns on
itself. Cut on the eastern inner jamb is a black-letter inscription
reading, 'Juxta hunc lapidem jacet corpus johannis cleye.' In the
opposite jamb is a large groove cut to receive a wooden bar.
The chancel arch, of three chamfered orders, is 15th-century work.
The chancel walls are built of sandstone with a moulded plinth,
stepped to the fall of the ground from east to west, and diagonal
buttresses at the east end. The coping of the eastern gable is
finished, at the apex, with a crocketed pinnacle and with carved
grotesques at the eaves.The nave arcades are in three bays. That on
the north is entirely modern, but portions of 12th-century masonry
have been retained in the southern. The pointed arches of two
square orders rest on circular piers with scalloped capitals
and moulded bases raised on square plinths. Parts of the capitals
of both piers are old, and a few stones in the piers and arches
appear to have been re-used. The west respond, with the exception
of the abacus, is original 12th-century work. The two-light east
window in the south aisle is contemporary with the widening, but
the tracery and mullions have been restored. At the east end of
the south wall is a small piscina, with a pointed head and broken
bowl, and in the same wall are two 15th-century windows of two
lights each. The pointed south door between them has been much
restored, and the south porch is modern. Externally the walls of
this aisle have a double chamfered plinth, with a diagonal buttress
at the south-west angle and a second in a line with the east wall.The
tower, divided into three stages by moulded strings, has an
embattled parapet and a moulded plinth, with diagonal buttresses
at the angles. In the south-west corner is a small vice. The tower
arch is pointed and of two orders, the outer continuous but the
inner interrupted by a moulded cap. The south wall is pierced by a
modern doorway, but the three-light traceried west window is
original. The ringing stage is lit from the north and south by a
single square-headed light, and in each wall of the bell-chamber is
a two-light pointed opening of the early 15th century. Projecting
from each face of the tower below the parapet is a much-
weathered gargoyle, carved in the form of a grotesque beast. The
nave roofs are modern, but that over the chancel is of early 15th-
century date and of the trussed rafter type. Each pair of rafters is
trussed by a collar and two curved braces, which spring from the
moulded wall-plates and form a series of semicircular arches.There is
a peal of eight bells, two of which were added in 1902 by
Taylor of Loughborough. The old bells are inscribed as follows: (1)
'M' John Waldron de Field, Mr Wm Cole, Zeph Creswell 1718'; (2)
'Cantate Domino Canticum Novum. 1681'; (3) 'Henricus Bagley mee
fecit 1681'; (4) 'Henry Bagley made me 1681'; (5) 'Henry Bagley
made me 1681'; (6) 'John Perry vicar, John Cresswell John Waldron
Churchwardens, John Amphlett Esquire' and on the lip of the bell
'John Gopp, Abraham Hill, Richard Wight, Joseph Waldron, Thomas
Waldron, Richard Hill. Richard Bagley made mee 1743.'The plate
consists of a mid-16th-century silver cup unstamped, a silver salver
of 1693 inscribed 'Donum Mariae Amphlett Ecclesiae Clent
1750,' a modern silver flagon of 1907, an electro-plated paten and an
electro-plated flagon.The registers previous to 1813 are as follows:
(i) all entries 1562 to 1619, also for year 1626; (ii) baptisms 1637
to 1642, marriages and burials 1637 to 1641, also all 1654 to
1729; (iii) baptisms 1729 to 1775 (no entries for 1738), also for
year 1782, marriages 1729 to 1754, burials 1729 to 1757, for the
year 1768, 1774 to 1776 and 1780 to 1782; (iv) baptisms and
burials 1783 to 1812; (v) marriages 1754 to 1787; (vi) marriages
1787 to 1798; (vii) marriages 1798 to 1812. The earlier books have
been handsomely bound.
ABOUT
A pre-moderisation sketch - showing a
different lay-out - and low-slung oil-lamps