Church of St. Mary & St. Nicholas, Leatherhead

St. Mary & St. Nicholas, Leatherhead
The Church Tower of Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas, Leatherhead, seen from the South.
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Broad Church
Website	www.parishchurch.leatherheadweb.org.uk
History
Dedication	Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas
Administration
Parish	Leatherhead
Deanery	Leatherhead
Archdeaconry	Dorking
Diocese	Guildford
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev Graham Osborne Rector
Laity
Organist/Director of music	vacant

The Church of St. Mary & St. Nicholas, Leatherhead, is an Anglican parish church. Dating originally to around the 11th Century,^[1] it remains a place of worship to this day.

Architecture

The body of the church mostly dates to the early 13th century (Nikolaus Pevsner dating the nave to c. 1210): the nave arcades are typical of the French late-Transitional style then sweeping south-east England. The tower was built in the late 15th century: its large-scale angle buttresses, flattened perpendicular arches and windows (with their cinquepartite cusping) and carved spandrels above the West Door mark it out from the rest of the building, as (with the exception of the fine south transept window) all other perpendicular details are small and simple, without any of the splendour of those on the tower. Many of them were heavily restored in the 19th century by Arthur Blomfield, having been plastered over in the 17th century - some of this plaster can still be seen on the South wall of the South aisle. The stained glass windows in the church date back to the mid 19th century. ^[2]

Music

St. Mary & St. Nicholas is very fortunate to have a brand-new pipe organ based on 18th Century pipework from an organ which was once in this church - so new is this instrument, in fact, it has not yet arrived. The original instrument - built by the renowned builder Thomas Parker, one of whose instruments was a favourite of Handel's favourites - was brought from a church in Watford in 1846 and installed on the West-end gallery under the tower. In 1872, it was removed from there to the North Transept (as all the galleries, which had filled the church, were being removed), where it was rebuilt in a new case and enlarged to three manuals by the firm of J. W. Walker of Ruislip. This instrument was overhauled twice, in 1927 and 1956, but, by the time it was last heard in 1983, its state of repair was such that it had to be taken out of use. The organ remained in the North Transept, but an Allen electronic imitation organ. An electrical fault in the latter started a fire which destroyed it and badly damaged the Transept and the pipe organ, which was dismantled, leading to the discovery of the surviving Parker material, including the original keyboards The usable 19th Century material was sold to Norway and the remainder stored. A grant in 2006 from the Heritage Lottery Fund allowed the reconstruction of the 18th Century organ by the Northamptonshire firm of Goetze & Gwynn - this instrument is now at an advanced stage of construction in their Welbeck workshops, due for installation in Leatherhead in September 2007.

Photo gallery

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  The West face of the 15th Century tower.

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  The Church from the North/North-East.

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  The North side of the Nave.

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  The War Memorial Cross

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  The North side of the Chancel.

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  The East window of the Chancel.

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  The South side of the Chancel.

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  The South side of the Chancel, showing a blocked aperture through which an anchorite would once have received the Blessed Sacrament.

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  The South Transept's Decorated East window

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  The corner of the South Transept, showing the Perpendicular South window contrasted with the earlier Decorated East window.

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  The South side of the Nave. Note the higgledy-piggledy appearance of the dormer windows and gables

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  The West end of the South Aisle, showing two very obviously Victorian windows.

References

1. ^ "Mole Valley District Council Website:Heritage Open Days". 2005. http://www.molevalley.gov.uk/media.cfm?mediaid=1655. Retrieved 2007-03-29. "St Mary's & St Nicholas Church, Church Road, Leatherhead KT22 8AY. Parish church of Leatherhead dating from 1086, recorded in the Domesday Book." 
2. ^ Robert Eberhard (2006-10). "Stained Glass Windows at St. Mary & St. Nicholas". http://www.stainedglassrecords.org/Ch.asp?ChId=15831. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 

External links

• Map sources for Church of St. Mary & St. Nicholas, Leatherhead