SOUTHOE : CHURCH OF ST LEONARD
Church Post Code PE19 5YE
Open to visitors
Visited October 2024
It was late October 2024 and a long awaited and overdue revisit to the church of St Leonard at Southoe. It had been a day of contrasting weather as we visited churches in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with bright sunshine quickly followed by steady rain. The idea was to revisit Southoe on the way home before the rain started again; which was just achieved!
Southoe is one of a group of four churches to be found in the Paxtons Benefice; which consists of four churches situated close to the A1 namely Great and Little Paxton, Diddington and Southoe.
These churches are the furthest south covered by my websites, with Southoe itself some 25 miles to the south of Peterborough. Grafham Water is a short distance off to the north west and Huntingdon is some six miles off to the north east. The village of Buckden with its fine medieval church and Buckden Towers; once a home to the Bishop of Lincoln, when that Diocese, which was once the largest in the country, stretched from the River Thames to the Humber Estuary, is just over two miles to the north.
Southoe and Midloe recorded a population of 379 at the time of the 2021 census, with the church of St Leonard to be found central in the village; a pleasant peaceful scene despite the constant background noise of traffic from the A1 off to the east.
There was no church or priest mentioned here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086; with the first mention of a church here dating to around 1160. The church that we see today consists of west tower, which is offset to the north, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, south porch and chancel. Visually, it is very similar to the church of All Saints at Huntingdon.
The oldest surviving parts of the present structure are the piers of the chancel arch and the ornately carved re set south doorway. During the 13th century the chancel was lengthened with the nave being rebuilt as well as the south arcade and south aisle being added. Considerable building work around 1500 saw the adding of the north arcade, with the south aisle being largely rebuilt, the south porch and clerestories also being added at that time.
The west tower, which is offset in to the western most bay of the north aisle, as per Huntingdon All Saints, was added towards the end of the 16th century. In 1859 the church was restored, which included reroofing throughout. The roofs at that time were described as being ‘mean and modern’ with the church wardens accounts noting that £53 had been spent on the roof in 1819.
There may have been a steeple here at one point, as records show that two people each left bequests in their wills for the building of a steeple, with each of these dating to the first quarter of the 16th century.
When Revd Owen looked at the church bells in Huntingdonshire, which was published in 1899, there were four bells in the ring here, with all being cast by William Dobson of Downham Market in Norfolk in 1828. Owen mentions that there is room for five bells in the belfry for a ring of five, with a ‘vague’ local legend suggesting that a ring of five was at some point recast in to a ring of four. This wouldn’t have been in 1828 though as the church wardens accounts mentions that there was a ring of four here in 1709.
The first bell is inscribed ‘Peace and Good Neighbourhood’, the second reads ‘Long Live King George IV’ with the third giving the details of the founder along with the date of casting. The fourth includes the name Robert Pointer, who was the Vicar here at that time.
Owen notes that James Pointer was the vicar here for nearly 50 years with his son Robert, who was mentioned on the bell taking over the post from his father upon his death; also staying in post for a good many years.
The light was fading and the heavy shower that we had outpaced as we headed north, appeared to be catching us up. Time though for a quick exterior shoot before the rain arrived.
The church here sits on slightly raised ground; with the grass level with the top of the churchyard wall, giving an uninterrupted view out across the grounds, which for the most part are cleared of gravestones.
We were three weeks or so from Remembrance Sunday and the silhouettes of seven First World War soldiers stood to the east of the church, one figure for each of the seven men from the village who fell in that conflict.
The tower is of red brick; battlemented with crocketed pinnacles. A couple of crows perched on top of the weather vane, and would be getting quite wet very shortly should they stay where they were! The south porch, nave, clerestory and chancel are all battlemented and the clerestory stage is also of red brick.
Gargoyles peer out from north and south, with some looking to be older than others. Two of the more modern looking ones, which possibly date from the mid 19th century restoration, have their tongues stuck out in gesture of insult with another sporting a jaunty moustache!
Moving inside, the visitor enters in through a re-set south doorway, which is one of the few remaining features from the original 12th century structure. This would probably go down as being one of the most impressive doorways to be found in any of the churches covered by my sites.
This consists of three finely carved moulded orders in a round headed arch with tympanum of a repeated squares design. The piers are also similarly finely carved.
The church was open to visitors and moving inside the work of the Victorian restores is immediately evident. Looking towards the east there is the outline of a blocked up doorway to the rood stairs, which would have led to the rood loft itself; with the rood central, a large wooden carving of the crucifixion, showing Christ crucified with Mary the mother of Jesus and John alongside. These were hated by the reformers of the 16th century and were destroyed as being idolatrous.
The north arcade is of three bays with octagonal piers and capitals, with the central bay being narrower than the ones flanking it. The most western bay is filled in and panelled with a doorway to the east allowing access to the tower. The south aisle is also of three bays, with with round piers and capitals.
Moving in to the chancel the work of the Victorian restorers is again very much in evidence but there are things of great age and interest as well. As mentioned earlier, the carved piers of the chancel arch date to the founding of the church here in the mid 12th century. The east window is of five lights and is of plain glass. There is no stained glass to be found here at all, but some of the glass is tinted, giving out a yellowish tint to the interior on my visit. The medieval sedilia is still in place against the south wall of the chancel. This was the seating for the priests during the Mass in pre reformation days. This one is graduated, with two seats, the closest seat to the east being the highest. This higher seat was reserved for the ‘holiest’ person in attendance on the day. Graduated sedilia are fairly common and the higher seating is always at the eastern end; the east being the holiest part of the church.
In its traditional position to the east of the sedilia is the piscina, a basin with drain in which the holy vessels used during the mass would be washed.
To the north east of the nave is a squint which would allow a person to look through in to the chancel, and at the altar while the mass was taking place. The altar itself is a simple table with white cloth, with a Bible central. There was no cross on the altar itself, this was to be found on the sill of the east window behind.
There is another piscina at the eastern end of the south aisle, indicating that there would have been an altar here as well which would have also provided the mass. Also of interest is a coffin lid which contains a carving of the head and shoulders of a man under a trefoil canopy; a cross on his chest. This is said to date from the early 14th century and is very weathered having spent most of its time outside in the church grounds.
Very fond memories of a previous visit here back in July 2014; with the church holding an afternoon Songs of Praise service, which I attended along with David. Following the service refreshments were served out in the church grounds with, not for the first time and certainly not the last, food and my churchcrawling going hand in hand. The food was washed down nicely with jugs of iced Pimms; with chickens and a couple of pairs of Mallard ducks wandering around the gravestones. Idyllic! The five photographs below were all taken on that day.
That 2014 day we headed off to see if Diddington church was still open; crossing the A1 and heading off a mile and a half to the north. It was! We ended the day having a leisurely stroll around the church there as the day drew to a close.
Back to the 2024 visit, the rain had started to fall as I was photographing the interior. That was definitely it for the day. It was good to visit here again after just over ten years. This is a benefice that I have a great liking for and I have always appreciated the interest and support showed by the vicar here as well; who I was pleased to see had her camera with her as well as we met up at one of her other churches earlier in the year. The church of St Leonard at Southoe is open to visitors and is worth taking a look at.