St Leonard's Church, Middleton
St Leonard's is a Church of England parish church in Middleton, a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building and form part of Middleton's "Golden Cluster" of heritage sites.
History
Much of the present building was erected in 1412 by Thomas Langley who was Bishop of Durham and Lord Chancellor of England. He re-used the Norman doorway from an earlier structure to create the tower arch. Also distinctive in this region is the weather-boarded top stage to the tower.The church of St Leonard was enlarged in 1524 by Sir Richard Assheton, in celebration of the knighthood granted to him by Henry VIII for his part in the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
On 15 March 1957, St Leonard's was designated as a Grade I listed building.
Memorials
The Flodden Window, in the sanctuary, is thought to be the oldest war memorial in the UK. It commemorates on it the names of the Middleton archers who fought at Flodden. The church also has one of the finest collections of monumental brasses in the north of England, including the only brass in the UK depicting an English Civil War officer in full armour, Major-General Ralph Assheton. George Pace designed a war memorial and, in 1958, added a choir vestry and installed new lighting.In the extension of the churchyard are the war graves of two First World War soldiers, and an airman from the Second World War.