Vandals smash 500-year-old tiles at St Leonard’s Church

St Leonard's Middleton Parish Church

Volunteers at St Leonard’s Church in Middleton have issued a warning after some of the 500-year-old roof tiles have been smashed.

The tiles, which have been smashed by mindless vandals, are part of the original Tudor-era roofing on the priest vestry of the Grade I listed building.

A four-camera CCTV system was installed after a series of thefts of sandstone paving around the church.

“We do not take kindly to idiots pulling 500-year-old roof tiles off and smashing them. Our CCTV system is so good, it increases your chances of being caught. It can, and will be, used in a court as evidence. We have previously caught people on the roof and informed the police straight away,” said Roy Taylor, one volunteer.

Over 1,000 years old, the exquisite church has been richly blessed with historic features, from the Saxons to the twentieth century. Various interesting furnishings include the fine Hopwood Pew, a Puritan communion table, and instalments from renowned architect, Edgar Wood. In 1907, he installed a new roof in traditional gothic style and a little boiler house and chimney in his pioneering Art Deco style.

The BBC considered the church had the strongest case for the oldest continually inhabited building in the Manchester area and the graves of the famous ‘Peterloo’ radical reformer and writer, Samuel Bamford, and the mathematician, James Eastwood are located in the churchyard extension.