Old St Leonard's Church, Langho

Old St Leonard’s Church stands a mile north-west of Langho village in Lancashire’s Ribble Valley. Built in 1557 after the Reformation, it is one of the few new churches constructed at that time. Much of its stone and fittings came from nearby Whalley Abbey after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. A restoration in 1879 added a vestry before a larger church opened the following year. The old building remains in use for special services and is now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust. The church is a simple sandstone structure with a stone-slate roof. Its plan includes a nave and continuous chancel, a north vestry and a south porch. A bell-cote tops the west gable and a cross the east gable. The west window has four lights with Perpendicular tracery, while north and south walls hold two three-light windows each. The east window dates from the 19th century and has three lights, and a piscina sits in the south wall with a stoup projecting from the north wall. The churchyard contains war graves of a soldier and an airman from the First World War. The Grade I listed building offers quiet views over the surrounding countryside. Visitors can walk among the simple but historic fabric of the church and its peaceful burial ground.