The Leighton Stone, Leighton Bromswold

St Mary, Leighton Bromswold

History of St Mary Leighton Bromswold

The Royal Archaeological Institute report of 1967 p.36 notes that ‘ the true interest o this church, however, lies in the fact that nave, tower, roofs and fittings date from 1626-34 making it in effect one of the largest and most striking examples of church building of the early Stuart period……. the associations of this building are also of extraordinary interest, as Whiffen comments,  its history is linked with one of the most fascinating episodes in Carolean Anglicanism and also touches the life of one of the three or four greatest English poets of that age ‘ (i.e. George Herbert).

Near the church is the Hundred Stone. It served in medieval times as the judiciary seat of the Leightonstone Hundred.