St Leonard's Church, Sutton Veny

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox historic site

| name =St Leonard's Church

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| image =St Leonards Sutton Veny.jpg

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| locmapin =Wiltshire

| coordinates = {{coord|51|10|22|N|2|07|57|W|type:landmark_region:GB-WIL|display=inline,title}}

| location =Sutton Veny, Wiltshire, England

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| built =12th century

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| designation1 =Grade II listed building

| designation1_offname =Church of St. Leonard

| designation1_date =11 September 1968

| designation1_number =1036423

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St Leonard's Church in Sutton Veny, Wiltshire, England, was built in the 12th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II listed building,{{NHLE |num= 1036423|desc= Church of St Leonard, Sutton Veny|accessdate= 15 January 2014|mode=cs2}} and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.{{citation|title=St Leonard's Church, Sutton Veny, Wiltshire|url=https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/church-listing/st-leonard-sutton-veny.html|publisher=Churches Conservation Trust|access-date=15 April 2020}} It was declared redundant on 28 May 1970, and was vested in the Trust on 27 October 1971.{{Citation | year = 2011| title = Diocese of Salisbury: All Schemes| series = Church Commissioners/Statistics| publisher = Church of England| page = 10| format = PDF | url = http://www.churchofengland.org/media/811097/salisbury%20-%20all%20schemes.pdf| access-date =31 March 2011}}

The cruciform church was started in the 12th century and revised in the 13th and 16th centuries, and underwent a major restoration in 1831. It was originally linked to the Priory Church of St Mary, Abergavenny.{{cite web|title=Sutton Veny In: A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 8, Warminster, Westbury and Whorwellsdown Hundreds.|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol8/pp61-74#h3-0007|website=British History Online|publisher=Victoria County History|access-date=4 September 2016|mode=cs2}} Subsidence because of low-lying damp ground caused further damage, which had been repaired by the addition of buttresses in the 14th and 15th century, and by 1866 the decision was made to build a new church. This was dedicated to St John the Evangelist, designed by John Loughborough Pearson and built on higher ground {{convert|700|yd|m}} to the north-west, opening in 1868.

Only the chancel remains in usable condition and was used as a mortuary chapel; it contains benefaction boards, a bier, a font, and a bell, and there are memorials on the walls. The nave, transepts and crossing are ruined, and among the ruins stands a 12th-century doorway, possibly repositioned.{{Cite web |title=St Leonard, Sutton Veny, Wiltshire |website=The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland |publisher=King's College London |url=https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=11965 |access-date=6 May 2023}}

There are two yew trees south east of the church. One which is now largely decayed has a girth of {{convert|14|ft|10|in}}; it is not known how large it was when the tree was healthy.{{cite web|last1=Hills|first1=Tim|title=St Leonard’s Old Church|url=http://www.ancient-yew.org/userfiles/file/Sutton%20Veny%20January%202015.pdf|publisher=Ancient Yews|access-date=4 September 2016|mode=cs2}}