The position of St Leonard’s church Grateley is a great reminder of a time when church and manor house, were at the centre of a community.
The church sits alongside the farm yard of Manor Farm with a circle of lanes surrounding the buildings at the centre of this village.
Its solid tower speaks of its Norman origins and the font, a formidable looking tub is C12th or possibly earlier.
St Leonard’s Church Grateley
Wonderful glass
The real gem in the church are the rare fragments of window glass that were placed in a window on the southern side of the nave. These deeply coloured fragments were rescued from Salisbury Cathedral by a gentleman called William Benson Earle, when the architect, James Wyatt, decided the cathedral no longer needed its Medieval glass and destroyed it. Find out more about William Benson Earle at the Grateley Parish Council website.
Experts believe it was made for the cathedral in about 1225, which was when Salisbury Cathedral was in a state ready to receive its new glass and that it could be English glass. If this is the case, then that would make the Grately glass amongst the oldest English glass in any church in the country.
Wonderful C13th stained glass
Stephs orans expirat or Stephen prays whilst breathing his last
The large diamond panel depicts St Stephen being stoned by a couple of Medieval rogues. The colours are glorious and one can only imagine what a fantastic sight they would presented to worshipers in the C13th.
The stoning of St Stephen
Border panel
The C18th sundial Grateley
