St. Leonard's Church - The Interior

 

A view east along the nave

Entering St. Leonard’s church in Scarcliffe, the first thing that caught my eye was the four bay north arcade, with round headed arches that are normally associated with the Norman style of architecture; however, although one of the columns is circular, others are octagonal and quatrefoil in plan, which dates them as being transitional to the Early English Gothic style. 

 

The north arcade

Looking closely at the capitals, which have simple mouldings that are more characteristic of the Early English style, the quatrefoil capital is decorated with a nailhead pattern to the abacus, which is another remnant of the Norman style. 

 

A quatrefoil capital with nailhead decoration

Above the quatrefoil plan column in the arcade, at the springing of the arches, an unusual carved head has been interpreted as a scold’s bridle, a mediaeval form of harsh punishment that was mainly reserved for women, who habitually chastised and quarrelled with their neighbours. 

 

A carving interpreted as a scold's bridle

In very many of the churches that I have visited, the removal of plaster by Victorian architects from the internal walls during restoration often reveals changes in the pattern of the stonework, which records phases of extension or rebuilding. 

 

The chancel arch

Looking down the nave to the walling surrounding the chancel arch, although I couldn’t see any obvious difference in the coursing and shape and size of the blocks from the floor to the roofline, the lower half has pale grey slightly recessed pointing, whereas the upper half has much darker cement based ribbon pointing. 

 

A scalloped capital on the chancel arch

 

Moving nearer, this change is seen to take place immediately above a projecting chamfered string course, which forms an extension of the abaci above the obviously Norman scalloped capitals on the semi-circular responds to the chancel arch. An even closer look reveals some very irregularly shaped voussoirs and some roll mouldings, which have been salvaged from the Norman arch. 

 

The access to the rood screen

At the junction with the north aisle and the west chancel wall, another interesting feature is the large opening that once provided access to the rood screen, which are quite often seen in mediaeval churches – although the rood screen itself very rarely remains. 

 

The chancel

Entering the chancel, the organ now blocks the views of the very interesting sections of walling that had interested me when investigating its exterior but, when continuing further, the blocked Early English lancet window on the north wall can clearly be seen. 

 

A blocked lancet window in the chancel

Its triangular window head is quite unusual, as also seen in the small lancet window next to it, which has splayed window reveals and also moulded sections of masonry supporting each of the large stones that form the head. 

 

A triangular window head to a lancet window in the chancel

Returning to the nave, I had a quick look at the masonry detailing of the various windows, starting with the very small clerestory windows above the arcade. Most of the clerestories that I have seen were added in the C15, with a distinct change in the pattern of masonry when Perpendicular Gothic style windows were inserted, but I couldn’t see any signs of this. 

 

A view west along the nave

On the south wall of the nave, the coursed and squared rubble masonry has been modified considerably during the building of the various tall, wide windows and the window reveals and the surrounding walling are largely composed of very large blocks of stone. 

 

Windows in the south wall of the nave