St Leonard's Church, Linley

St Leonard’s Church stands in the quiet hamlet of Linley, Shropshire, a small sandstone building with tiled roofs. Built mostly in the 12th century as a chapel of ease to Holy Trinity in Much Wenlock, it later gained a tower and a pyramidal spire. The church was restored in 1858 by Arthur Blomfield, who enlarged windows, rebuilt the east wall and laid new floors. It became redundant in 2007 and now belongs to the Churches Conservation Trust. The building is listed Grade I for its fine Norman architecture. The church is almost entirely Norman, with a nave, lower chancel and west tower. The tower has two stages, pilaster buttresses and twin bell openings under a pyramidal roof. A Norman south doorway shows zigzag carving, while the blocked north doorway carries a Green Man carved in foliage. Inside, the plastered walls frame a plain chancel arch and a Norman font decorated with cable moulding and medallions. Visitors find a simple interior with semicircular tower arches and scalloped capitals. The sanctuary holds a piscina and a painted reredos by Harry Burrows from about 1870. A hatchment dated 1803 hangs on the east wall, and the east windows contain stained glass by William Warrington showing the Resurrection. The grave slab of two Roman Catholic monks lies in the blocked north doorway.