Welcome to St Leonard's Church, Spernall

Spernall is a hamlet near Studley in Warwickshire. The church closed for worship in 1970 and is now in the ownership of the Friends of Friendless Churches. It was saved from destruction in 1980 by the Ancient Monuments Society. For safety reasons there is currently no public access.

The church is vernacular in origin, both in form and materials (apart from the re-built chancel of 1844) and is a result of the efforts of local people, who dug the stone from barely a hundred yards away from the site, and built this simple two cell structure with their own hands.

The earliest record of the church dates from the late 1190s when the Canons of Studley Priory were given the right to bury all non-freemen in Spernall parish. According to Dugdale plague swept away all of the non-freemen shortly afterwards. The first rector was recorded in 1240, by which time, at least some of the existing building seems to have been constructed. By general consensus the chancel arch is believed to date from the 12th century.

The building is constructed of the local Arden Sandstone and is rather friable and this has necessitated many repairs over the years. One such repair consists of a rather incongruous section of red brick on the north wall. However, this has weathered somewhat, and adds to the charm of the building.