St. Leonard’s, Monyash

St. Leonard’s, Monyash

St. Leonard’s is either having some work done on the roof or someone has nicked the lead… It is a church which is open every day and there is a very clear notice to that effect. The church was founded as a chantry chapel by Robert de Saocia and Matthew de Eston. The mother church was Bakewell. Monyash was declared to be a fit place to become a parish church by the Church Commissioners in 1650.

It is an interesting church to visit but rather dark inside until your eyes get used to it, it was a dull day which didn’t help. There is a book about Monyash and it’s history to look at as well as some prints for sale and some notelets. There didn’t seem to be a church guide. Some 15 people were in the visitors book for July.

A notice explains about the bells here and a history display puts the church in it’s local context. One thing I liked is a simple life of St. Leonard and some hymn words about him.

A lot of effort had gone into a World War 1 display and this was well done with details of local people who had died in that awful conflict. There is an open Bible and this is an interesting church to visit. I rate it as good. There is a website at http://www.monyash.info which gives local information but nothing about visiting the church.