St Leonards Church Sandridge

St Leonard's Church, Sandridge
St Leonards Church, 2009
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Broad Church
Website	http://www.sandridgechurch.org.uk/
History
Dedication	St. Leonard
Administration
Parish	Sandridge
Diocese	St Albans
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Rector	Revd Emma (Em) Coley
Curate(s)	Revd John Hillier

Coordinates: 51°46′52″N 0°18′12″E / 51.781003°N 0.303345°E / 51.781003; 0.303345 St Leonard's Church is the parish church of Sandridge, a small village in Hertfordshire, England.

Some sort of simple wooden church was probably made necessary in 796 when the Abbey of St Albans took possession of the Manor of Sandridge. The semi-circular head of the arch between the Nave and the Chancel is thought to date from 946. The main structure as it stands today, was constructed and added to the original buildings in 1114.

It was no later than 1119 that the church was consecrated and dedicated to St Leonard by Herbert de Losinga 1st Bishop of Norwich (he died in 1119) and that Sandridge became a parish.

The nave was enlarged and aisles were added between 1160 and 1180. On either side of the nave are three Norman arches. The church font is also thought to date from Norman times. The early English pointed arch and the tower either built or re-modelled towards the end of the 13th century.

The stone screen was added to the wall between the Nave and the Chancel towards the end of the 14th century. It is richly ornamented on the eastern side but plainer on the west as here there was a carved wooden screen with Rood Loft and Rood above and an altar on each side of the archway into the Chancel. The Chancel was re-built and lengthened in 1399 and the squared headed perpendicular windows replaced the narrower Norman windows in the aisles. The south doorway was also built.