Monument record 0999900000 - St Leonard's

The chapel of St Leonard's at 'Blakemere' (Blackmere) is first recorded in legal documents in 1171, with later mentions in 1212 and 1250 (B1).
Formerly part of Aston Clinton parish, the chapelry was formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1860. The hamlet of St. Leonards in the extreme south-east corner of Aston Clinton parish lies at over 700 ft. In 1547 there were about thirty-five 'houseling' people living in the hamlet of St. Leonards, and the chapel seems to have escaped dissolution since it served as a chapel of ease. An inquisition was taken in 1570 to show why the land had been unlawfully detained from the hands of the Crown, but the tenants, Henry and Silvester Baldwin, successfully brought forward the plea that the chapel was a necessity for the hamlet. The chapel is mentioned in 1640, but after the Civil War the building was in ruins, only the bare walls remaining. It was rebuilt by Cornelius Wood in the late 17th century (B2).
St Leonard's is marked on OS maps from 1812 onwards (B3).