St Leonard's is in urgent need of restoration work in order to stop water penetration. We have so far managed to raise £37,000 offline but this isn't enough and we now need your help. Every donation, whatever it's size, will make a real difference because we want to show that we are gaining support and awareness for this wonderful cause.

With a Norman tower dating from the C12, the small parish church of St Leonard's stands in a commanding position overlooking the picturesque estate village of Old Warden. The location is close to the manorial stronghold of William Espec, Old Warden's Domesday Lord of the Manor, whose son or nephew, Walter Espec, founded nearby Cisterican Warden Abbey in 1135. The church is Grade 1 listed, and its medieval exterior belies the surprising carved oak interior which has delighted visitors from far and wide over the last 180 years. With pews and panels from the C16 onwards, the wonderful interior is largely the work of eccentric collector, Lord Ongley, the last of the Ongley Squires of Old Warden in the early 1840's.

Amongst Ongley's furnishings is a rare Tudor survival of national importance: a set of of 22 finely carved oak panels depicting the personal emblems of Henry VIII's 4th wife, Anne of Cleves. These were confirmed recently as being the original patterns for designs used on her 1557 tomb in Westminster Abbey. These panels would have been among her prized personal possessions, embellishing her private chambers in one of the houses given to her by Henry as part of her divorce settlement. These precious panels, located throughout the church, are now at risk from damp, water ingress and crumbling masonry.

Another rare treasure in urgent need of conservation and protection is found in the north wall of the nave. The Warden Abbey medieval stained glass window was gifted to the church by Abbot Walter Clifton c1380/81, around the time of the church's appropriation by the Abbey. The window contains the only surviving representation of a Cistercian Abbot so far recorded in English medieval glass. Warden Abbey (dissolved 1537) was a major Cistercian monastery and was a daughter house of Rievaulx in Yorkshire.

The Parochial Church Council must raise enough money to restore and conserve this ancient church building and make its historical treasures safe for generations to come. The most urgent work is to the tower and south-east corner of the nave.