Church of St Leonard, Old Warden
The Church of St Leonard in Old Warden, Bedfordshire, is a Grade I listed building. It dates back to the early 1100s, but the most of the current structure is from the 13th century, with later additions in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The base of the tower and the tower arch are Norman from the 12th century, and the rest was rebuilt in the 15th century. The church was heavily reworked in the mid to late 1800s, when an elaborate wooden interior was added.
The building is made mainly of brown cobbles with limestone dressings, with some red brick and coursed limestone. A south porch was added in 1952, designed by Professor Richardson. It is timber-framed with red brick infill and a tiled roof, donated by Mrs Dorothy Shuttleworth in memory of her son, Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth.
St Leonard’s is famous for its richly carved wooden decorations added in the mid-1800s by Robert Henley-Ongley, 3rd Baron Ongley of Old Warden. The carvings come from several countries, especially Belgium, France and Italy. Some panels are said to have come from Anne of Cleves’ private chapel and can be spotted by the initials AC with a crown. In 1997 several wooden panels showing Biblical scenes were stolen and were never recovered; there are plans to replace them with new carvings of a similar style.
On the north wall is medieval 14th-century stained glass from Wardon Abbey, showing St Margaret and an Abbot of Wardon in Cistercian white habit. A marble tablet by Goscombe John on the north wall of the chancel honors Frank Shuttleworth; its inscription was later updated to mention his son, Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth, who was killed in a WWII flying accident. The lectern bears the Royal Air Force eagle and motto, a gift from Mrs Shuttleworth.
The pulpit is an 18th-century Flemish piece showing Jesus with children and the Woman of Samaria; it came from an Edinburgh antique shop. It originally had four Evangelists’ signs on its pilasters, but these were stolen in 1997. The altar front panels are from the late 19th century. The front pews have notable serpent carvings; one was damaged in the 1997 burglary and later repaired, another was stolen and replaced.
The Shuttleworth family pew sits at the top of the nave opposite the pulpit, with a carving of the Women preparing Christ’s body. Above it is a baroque carving of Faith, erected by a Shuttleworth sister in memory of Caroline Shuttleworth (died 1899). At the west end is a life-size monument by Peter Scheemakers and Laurent Delvaux to Sir Samuel Ongley (1647–1726). Some small sculptures were stolen in 1997, leaving only one putto.
An old feature is the set of octagonal wooden tiles in the two pillars, dating from the Mary I era. A gallery along the south wall was added in 1841 by Lord Ongley. The north-east corner of the churchyard holds the Ongley Family mausoleum, a 1790 building with 42 vaults (only ten used).
In 2008, Shuttleworth Chapel items from Old Warden Park were brought to St Leonard’s, including flags, lances, linen, lace altar cloths, a wooden cross and candlesticks, and a plaque with the Shuttleworth crest and RAF wings, dedicated to Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth. The plaque was placed in the Chapel, in the south nave area. A window above the Richard Shuttleworth Chapel commemorates Edward VII’s Coronation, though the date shown is incorrect because the coronation was postponed at the time. The church has six bells; the oldest is over 400 years old, with one bell recast in 1976 and others added in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
In the churchyard, the Ongley Family Mausoleum stands in the north-east corner, a Grade I-listed feature with 42 vaults.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:24 (CET).