The Church St Leonard’s is a Grade II* listed building. A chapel belonging to the church at Blackburn is mentioned in the deed of Henry de Lacey of c1166, and in 1228 was among the lands in Blackburn parish transferred to the Cistercian monks of Stanlaw Abbey. Walton church was already dedicated to St Leonard, possesses it’s own churchyard, lands and tithes, although it was only to be created as an independent parish in 1837. It is steeped in local history as captured by Dr David Hunt, local historian, in his book “St Leonard Walton le Dale”. Little of the pre-reformation building survives away from the chancel and the tower. The nave has been rebuilt on a number of occasions. As early as 1503 Ralph Langton bequeathed 20 marks towards its rebuilding. In 1798 it was pulled down, transepts were added in 1816, with further work in 1855, before an extensive rebuild in 1904-06. It is probable that the chancel contains burials of the early Lords of Walton and there is a gravestone in memory of Samuel Crook, who was killed in a fight cum duel, which can still be seen.

The North Transept has now been developed into a more usable area to encourage families with children to join our services and generally improve our facilities as part of our Mission. This has been designed to keep families part of our worship whilst being located in a more child friendly and relaxed space for all the family. Although it still needs some finer touches, it is used regularly by families. We have also created a robing area for our choir, which is more accessible for them, and a cupboard designed specifically to store the altar cloths.

The tower has a peal of bells, which are rung on Sundays and can be requested for weddings. We have a group learning to ring the chimes and one person, who can not only ring the chimes but is learning to ring the bells, which more of us hope to do later in the year. The tower also houses our church clock.  

St Leonard’s Building

The large Old School is also a Grade 11 listed building. Unfortunately, the building was in very poor condition partly due to being the subject of criminal activity, such as break-ins and lead theft, which caused severe damage, and partly due to general wear and tear. The PCC took the decision to sell the building and a buyer has been found and the sale went through earlier this year. This does mean that we have lost our meeting area, therefore it was suggested to create an area within the church by replacing the pews in the south transept and installing a more practical form of seating. However, this has not been progressed as yet.

St Leonard’s Churchyard

The ‘old’ churchyard is closed and responsibility for the maintenance now falls to the Local Council. They come twice a year to mow the grass and tend the area. However, our team of groundsmen also maintain this area weekly during the summer months. The perimeter wall had fallen down in part and was bulging. In addition to this the pathways around the church were uneven, cracked and a health and safety risk. The Local Council accepted their responsibility to rebuild the perimeter wall to the south and west of the church and this work together with replacing the pathways was completed in 2016. The ‘new’ churchyard, including the Garden of Remembrance, is the responsibility of the PCC. As it is reaching capacity, we have approached the Diocese for additional land in order to extend the Garden of Remembrance.