GO WALKABOUT IN ST LEONARD’S
For the visitor a quick guide to features of interest in the Church. * indicates a fuller leaflet is available.
 

THE NAVE. Stand in front of the font facing the altar. You are now in the centre of the Norman church, built about 1080. Its walls were where the side arches are now, and there are traces of its windows high on the left-hand wall. The church was widened and lengthened about 1120, and the arches and columns inserted. On the right-hand columns you can still see faint traces of paint: once the whole church would have been alive with bright murals; these and much else were destroyed at the Reformation.

The FONT bowl is 14th century on a 19th century stem. Behind that is the door into the *BELL-TOWER. Above are the *ORGAN pipes, donated in 1936. The tower collapsed in 1739 and had to be re-built. Move to the Vestry door in the left wall. Over it, as was usual in parish churches (except during the Common-wealth period), are displayed the ROYAL ARMS, These are of William and Mary (1689-94).

THE VESTRY. Go into the Vestry, which was built in the 1950s (the toilets are also here). In the room on the right is the entrance doorway to the much older Saxon church of St Edmund. In the later 12th century it was given this wonderful decorated stone arch and steps up, probably to demonstrate the status of the town ‘Jurats’ (ie Councillors) who processed into the old building for their official meetings. The wooden ‘table top’ hanging on the wall is actually the sounding board of the 18th century pulpit. Over the entrance door is a painted board recording a Charity for poor children (still in being) set up by Lawrence Weller in 1663.

THE NORTH TRANSEPT Go back into the church and walk up the left-hand aisle. You enter the Saxon church (of St Edmund?) The arch over its doorway is the other side of the Norman arch - much earlier, and very different in style; the steps down show how the floor was lowered much later. Above is the ‘wolf helmet’ of Captain John Warde of Sandgate Castle who died in 1601 and is buried here. In the north wall is an ‘EASTER SEPULCHRE’, a reminder of our Lord’s empty tomb after the Resurrection, and around are interesting MEMORIALS to those who died in the service of country and Empire. The tiny pointed door to the right of the steps leads into a staircase in a ROUND TOWER whose date and purpose are mysterious, but it did once give access (through a door you can see high over the pulpit) to a screen across the chancel arch, destroyed in the Reformation. The PULPIT with its Venetian mosaics was installed in the 1870 refurbishment of the church. Go up the steps.

THE CHANCEL is the glory of this Church: unusually for a parish church it has a clerestory and triforium - galleries above the arches. It was added soon after 1200 and raised up so as to create a corridor beneath, now a *BONE-HOUSE. The stone carving throughout the chancel is very fine, but the vaulting of the roof was not added until the 1870s, completing the medieval master mason’s intentions. All the chancel GLASS was destroyed during the second world war and painstakingly collected and re-set in plain glass, but the great EAST WINDOW was designed anew in 1951 to illustrate Hythe’s ‘front-line role’ through the ages in the defence of England, and with a most appropriate quotation from Psalm 91 (the ‘Air Raid Psalm’) below. To the right of the ALTAR is a rather rare double PISCINA (where Communion vessels were washed) and a double SEDILIA (seating for the priests) - both 13th century.
THE CHANCEL is the glory of this Church: unusually for a parish church it has a clerestory and triforium - galleries above the arches. It was added soon after 1200 and raised up so as to create a corridor beneath, now a *BONE-HOUSE. The stone carving throughout the chancel is very fine, but the vaulting of the roof was not added until the 1870s, completing the medieval master mason’s intentions. All the chancel GLASS was destroyed during the second world war and painstakingly collected and re-set in plain glass, but the great EAST WINDOW was designed anew in 1951 to illustrate Hythe’s ‘front-line role’ through the ages in the defence of England, and with a most appropriate quotation from Psalm 91 (the ‘Air Raid Psalm’) below. To the right of the ALTAR is a rather rare double PISCINA (where Communion vessels were washed) and a double SEDILIA (seating for the priests) - both 13th century.

There are two SIDE CHAPELS: on the left, St Katherine’s Chapel (reserved for private prayer) with an unusual leather altar frontal, illustrating the White Cliffs and local fishing industry. On the right, the Calvary Chapel was formerly the Lady Chapel, and a statue of Our Lady stood on the right-hand plinth; it was torn down at the Reformation and destroyed - see the savage
St Leaonard's Floor Plan
marks in the stone above the modern replacement by Susan Riley who again designed the leather frontal. The medieval GLASS, re-set after the war, shows the instruments of the Crucifixion. In the aisle is a very fine panel in Pre-Raphaelite style, depicting Christ’s removal from the cross, carved from a single block of Carrara marble, and costing £800 in 1881 - a very considerable sum then. Looking back down the church from here, you see the Gothic 13th century arch and through it the 1120 Norman round arch - an interesting architectural comparison of styles only 80 years apart. Go down the steps into the south transept.

The SOUTH TRANSEPT is named after the DEEDES family, who paid for its re-building in 1751 and were important in Hythe over several centuries; their memorials decorate the walls and their Arms the window.

By the steps is an IRON CHEST, once painted, but darkened now, which contained the parish monies and could be opened only when three persons were present, for it had three locks! Later it contained the Parish Registers, dating back to 1566. The *ORGAN CONSOLE stands here but can be wheeled out to the centre of the nave for concerts. A stage can be erected over the chancel steps to accommodate choirs, bands, instruments, even stage plays, for the church is much used for concerts and performances, arranged by the Friends of St Leonard’s, who raise money for improvements and repairs to the church. As you pass through the round arch, note the triangular masons’ marks and ‘Pilgrims’ Crosses’. The WINDOWS along this side of the Church survived the second world war air raids, and you will see also several interesting BRASSES: one to John Bredgeman MP, Hythe’s last Bailiff and first Mayor in 1575 when Queen Elizabeth granted the town its Charter; and one to Edward Colley who died on the Titanic. A board records Rectors of Saltwood, from Walter de Grey in 1207 in the reign of King John (Hythe was for many centuries ‘annexed’ to Saltwood), and Vicars of Hythe from 1844. Beyond the south door is a beautifully coloured window commemorating Second Lieutenant Robert Hildyard killed in action on the Somme in 1916, aged 19. The pillar nearest the door is especially interesting for its graffiti of fishing vessels scratched perhaps by a sailor praying for a good catch.

You have opportunity here to buy the Pitkin Guide to the Church (£1) - a colourful souvenir of your visit, and to pick up leaflets from the rack with more detailed descriptions of some of the features of the church.

Above the main door, note the little round window through which the priest in his PRIEST’S ROOM above the porch could watch the services in the chancel. As you leave, pause for a moment in the PORCH. Immediately on the left of the door, cut into the wall, are three ‘MASS-DIALS’: before the porch was added in the 14th century, these were in full sun, and a peg in the top hole showed a shadow indicating the time of the next Mass, like a little sundial. The window on the right shows St Leonard visiting a prison cell, for he was the patron saint of prisoners. He was of course a Norman saint, indicating that the main church was built and named after the invasion of 1066. You see there are doors to right and left, needed to enable processions to perambulate the church without leaving consecrated ground. That on the left leads to the so-called crypt, the famous *BONEHOUSE, which is open to visitors from 1 May to 30 September, from 10.30-12.00 and 2.30-4.00.

Times of services are on the notice board, and from time to time you will see posters advertising concerts and forthcoming events. We hope you have enjoyed your tour and will come again.