St Leonard's Church is in

Sandridge Sandridge is a village and civil parish between St Albans and Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, England. History The original name was "Saundruage" meaning a place of sandy soil serviced by bond tenants. The earliest recorded mention of Sandri ...

, a village in Hertfordshire, England. It is an active Anglican

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

. The building is Grade II* listed: notable features include its chancel arch made from recycled

Roman brick Roman brick can refer either to a type of brick used in Ancient Roman architecture and spread by the Romans to the lands they conquered; or to a modern type inspired by the ancient prototypes. In both cases, it characteristically has longer and f ...

.St Leonard, Sandridge
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History

Some sort of simple wooden church was probably made necessary in 796 when St Albans Abbey took possession of the Manor of Sandridge. However, the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

does not mention the existence of a church at Sandridge.

Chancel arch, possible pre-Norman feature

The oldest surviving feature of the present church is possibly the semi-circular head of the arch between the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

, although the date of this uncertain. One theory is that it dates from 946. The brick may have come from a Roman site in the immediate vicinity of Sandridge or from

Verulamium Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain. It was sited southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon ...

; the abbots of St. Albans are known to have had a stockpile of Roman brick, which was one of the materials used in the fabric of the abbey.Stalley, Roger. ''Early Medieval Architecture'',
Google Books link
, Oxford University Press, USA, 1999, pp. 112-14, ().

Dedication of the church and Norman architecture

It was no later than 1119 that the church was consecrated and dedicated to St Leonard by Herbert de Losinga 1st Bishop of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

(he died in 1119) and that Sandridge became a parish. The

was enlarged and

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

s were added between 1160 and 1180. On either side of the nave are three

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

arches. The font is also thought to date from Norman times. The Early English pointed arch and the tower either built or re-modelled towards the end of the 13th century. The stone screen was added to the wall between the nave and the chancel towards the end of the 14th century. It is richly ornamented on the eastern side but plainer on the west as here there was a carved wooden

screen Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...

with Rood Loft and

Rood A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion ...

above and an altar on each side of the archway into the Chancel. The Chancel was re-built and lengthened in 1399 and the squared headed perpendicular windows replaced the narrower Norman windows in the aisles. The south doorway was also built. After the dissolution of the monasteries many valuable ornaments and fittings of the Church were removed and the church fell into neglect and decay. By 1638 the church was fitted with pews and the arrangement of these has lasted to modern times. A pulpit was erected on the south side of the nave, the remains of which can be seen in the prayer desks in the sanctuary. The tower collapsed in 1692 or 1693 and the church wardens reported that the rebuilding would cost seven hundred pounds. Nothing was done beyond boarding up the arch in the west end and clearing away some of the rubble. The clerestory of the Nave and the roof were in a very bad state in 1710 but where patched up and made to serve until 1786. In 1786 the rotten walls of the clerestory were removed and the roof lowered and flattened out to rest on the Norman arches. Attic windows were put in and the wooden bell turret erected. Between 1836 and 1838 a tower was built. During 1886 - 1887 the architect William White restored the whole church to the state it exists in today. It cost £3800 and re-opened on 7 June 1887. The ring of bells was dedicated on 11 January 1890.

Organ

The organ was given by Mr & Mrs Kinder, Mr & Mrs Marten and Dr Griffith. It dates from about 1880 and was originally a single manual instrument. Before the church's restoration it stood in the chancel, then it was re-built under the tower. In 1914 the instrument was enlarged by

Norman and Beard Norman and Beard were a pipe organ manufacturer based in Norwich from 1887 to 1916. History The origins of the company are from a business founded in Diss in 1870 by Ernest William Norman (1851–1927). In 1876 he moved to Norwich where he we ...

and re-built at the east end of the north aisle. At the same time the pulpit was moved to the north side of the chancel screen and the choir seated in the chancel. The inaugural recital was given in May 1914 by the organist of

Temple Church The Temple Church is a Royal peculiar church in the City of London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. It was consecrated on 10 February 1185 by Patriarch Heraclius of J ...

Walford Davies Sir Henry Walford Davies (6 September 1869 – 11 March 1941) was an English composer, organist, and educator who held the title Master of the King's Music from 1934 until 1941. He served with the Royal Air Force during the First World War, dur ...

Lychgate

To the south of the churchyard is a

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

. This structure, which with its flanking walls is a Grade II listed building, was erected after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a memorial. Plaques list the names of the village's fallen soldiers and also the names of those who served and returned.

References

*H. R. Wilton Hall ''The History of Sandridge Church'', St Leonard's Church Sandridge, 800th Anniversary. *J. A. Cruikshank ''Some dates in the history of St Leonard's Church, Sandridge: a paper read at a meeting of the St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archeological Society, held at Sandridge, June 24, 1900''

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandridge, St Leonard's Church Church of England church buildings in Hertfordshire Grade II* listed churches in Hertfordshire