Nominal: 981.8 Hz Weight: 691 lbs Diameter: 32" Bell 1 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 2016
Dove Bell ID: 2132 Tower ID: 14797 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Drayton: St Leonard & St Catherine
Overview
Grid reference: SU 596 964
Being a long, low aisleless building, with a small west bell-tower, the church makes little impact on its surroundings, but it is nevertheless attractively situated and forms a key feature in its village. The bell-cote stands on the west gable of the nave, supported internally by a timber structure (rare in Oxfordshire); each of its shingled walls has a pair of narrow lancet-shaped openings with louvres and the roof is in the form of a tiled pyramid on the apex of which is a weathercook on a pretty iron vane.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
West timber bell tower, nave with south porch and north transeptal chapel, no aisies, chancel.
Footprint of Church buildings: 199 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The present building is basically twelfth-century with a thirteenth-century north transeptal chapel and fifteenth-century windows and a fifteenth-century timber bell tower at the west end. H.J. Bruton reported on the church in 1859, as a result of which it was restored under the direction of G.E. Street in 1859-60 at a cost of about £600, the Incorporated Church Building Society contributing £40; Street rebuilt the chancel and renowed the roofs. Bruton repaired the tower in 1884 and works to the chancel were undertaken in 1932 together with the addition of the sacristy.
Exterior Description
Being a long, low aisleless building, with a small west bell-tower, the church makes little impact on its surroundings, but it is nevertheless attractively situated and forms a key feature in its village. The bell-cote stands on the west gable of the nave, supported internally by a timber structure (rare in Oxfordshire); each of its shingled walls has a pair of narrow lancet-shaped openings with louvres and the roof is in the form of a tiled pyramid on the apex of which is a weathercook on a pretty iron vane. The west wall of the church is rougheast with diagonal buttresses of exposed stonework at the corners which seem to have been added by Street in 1859 or perhaps by Bruton, who "strengthened" the tower in 1884. The west window is a single lancet light. The north wall of the nave is pierced also by a single lancet but in the south wall the two windows have been later enlarged, now consisting each of two trefoil-headed Perpendicular lights under a square label. There are remains of fine mass dials on the south-east corner of the nave. The timber south porch is roughcast externally but internally shows massive braces round the entrance and a mediaeval roof with stout tie-beams to each pair of rafters. The floor was retiled in the ninteenth-century and the benches each side were renewed. The doorway is Norman, with original internal arch, jambs and imposts but the lintel is modern and the external arch is missing. There is a mass dial on the west jamb.
Towards the east end of the north nave wall is a low aisle like projection in the position of a transept, without a separate entrance but lit by lancet windows; part of this represents a mediaeval north chapel and part a sacristy built by local labour in 1932 to designs by Geoffrey Webb. The older part is roofed in lead and the newer with tiles.
The chancel appears to have been almost entirely rebuilt in 1859, with a very steeply-pitched roof which rises higher than that of the nave. The single lancet with trefoiled head in the north wall remains from the old chancel, but the three-light east window with intersecting Geometric tracery is all a replacement. The south wall has two windows similar to those in the south nave wall (save that one has ogee-headed lights) and at the eastern angle are low diagonal buttresses with steep shoulders. Both east and west gables are crowned by stone crosses.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1894
East window: The Crucifixion with St. Mary and St. John, five saints and the Dove in the tracery by Bucknall and Comper.
Stained Glass
15th Century
Chancel north window: small light showing a figure of St. Leonard with surrounding canopywork, fifteenth-century, sympatheticallyrestored in 1859 with considerable renewal of background and canopy.
Stained Glass
1894
South nave I: Melchisedek and Abraham by Bucknall and Comper, 1894, but in a Flemish style and, indeed, quite closely copied from a painting of these figures on a polyptych by Thierry Bouts, c.1415-1475, of Louvain.
Interior
Interior Description
The church is entered through a door which dates from Street's restoration and down several stops into the rather dark nave. The windows are few in number and small in size and in addition several have stained glass. The nave floor is laid with nineteenth-century tiles and the walls are painted white; Street also removed a plaster ceiling from the roof so that the timber structure may now be clearly seen. Each pair of rafters has a cross beam with braces and at the wall-head are irregularly spaced tie beams (one against the chancel wall and three others). At the west end the timber framing of the tower may be seen with stout vertical posts and ties and simple arch braces. The lower part is screened by eighteenth-century panelling from box pews to form a small chamber.
In the north nave wall a round-headed doorway with chamfered arch and jambs and plain imposts leads to the sacristy, directly opposite the south doorway by which the church is entered. Towards the east end of both north and south walls are vestiges of round-headed window openings, that on the south now superseded by one of the Perpendicular windows and that on the north by the two unequal arches opening into the north chapel. These, though now much renewed, are evidently Early English in date with a round pillar with moulded capital standing between them. The larger arch is now filled by the organ and the smaller gave access to the blower's seat. Beside the pulpit is a small piscina in a square recess, evidence of an altar by the rood screen.
The chancel arch is Transitional Norman, slightly pointed with plain responds and square imposts. The chancel itself seems internally, as externally, all of Street's work with white walls and simple stone details round the windows, the roof design copied from that of the nave (the line of the old roof may be seen over the chancel arch). The furnishings were renewed in 1930 when the floor was lowered (now having one step at the chancel arch and a footpace for the altar) and the altar was brought forward and surrounded by "English" riddels and curtains. Street's communion rails and stalls, however, remain. The south window sill comes low as sedilia and beside it is a piscina with a cinquefoil drain under a trefoil-arched recess.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
1930
Reredos
The reredos takes the form of riddel posts and curtains, the angels on the riddel posts carved by Emil David of Liege, a refugee to the parish in World War I.
Pulpit
1897
The pulpit is of wood, half an octagon in plan and with a figure of an angel leading a child in the front panel; the whole is polychrome and gilded with stencilled roses and lilies and dates from 1897, designed by Bucknall and Comper and executed by the Warham Guild.
Lectern
The lectern dates from Street's time, of oak with a pedestal of a single ringed column carrying a reading desk with three traceried panels along the front.
Font (object)
The font is octagonal, on a square base, with a roll-moulding at the top and the bottom of the stem. The bowl has panels with segmental top edges and looks to have been heavily recut. The octagonal cover is of oak.
Organ (object)
c.1885
A small two-manual instrument with tracker action.
Rail
The communion rails are by Street with turned uprights and a moulded rail, all in oak.
Panelling
Panelling from Georgian box pews now a screen at the west end of the church.
Bells
Nominal: 1642.1 Hz Weight: 309 lbs Diameter: 22.94" Bell 2 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 2016
Dove Bell ID: 18706 Tower ID: 14797 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1468.4 Hz Weight: 335 lbs Diameter: 23.72" Bell 3 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 2016
Dove Bell ID: 18707 Tower ID: 14797 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1313.6 Hz Weight: 378 lbs Diameter: 25.44" Bell 4 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 2016
Dove Bell ID: 18708 Tower ID: 14797 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1227.7 Hz Weight: 417 lbs Diameter: 26.56" Bell 5 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 2016
Dove Bell ID: 18709 Tower ID: 14797 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1097.8 Hz Weight: 495 lbs Diameter: 28.5" Bell 6 of 6
Founded by Whitechapel Bell Foundry 2016
Dove Bell ID: 18710 Tower ID: 14797 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: SU 596 964
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Sources
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