The Plaster Panels

Robert Richmond's 1928 book 'Leighton Buzzard and its Hamlets' carries some information on Heath House, opposite St.Leonards Church. The book is long since out of print but second hand copies can be found at various suppliers on the Internet (see Links section).

"The house has an unusally fine Jacobean staircase and door. Among other interesting features are two panels in plaster on the south side of the roof. They are now exposed, the gable roof having been removed. One of them (left) represents Adam and Eve, with apple, apple tree, serpent and two small animals below. These ornaments are repeated on the staircase and on some of the beams in the house. Tradition says that these panels were removed from the old chapel in Sheepcote corner and that the house will be haunted by the ladies that removed them until they are replaced in the church."

The Tunnel

The other, smaller panel (right) shows an 'English' rose under a crown.

"Tradition also says that there was an underground passage from the house to - somewhere [no doubt this is the passage the old vicar Wilf Barrow believed led to the church]. There is an archway in the cellar that has been bricked up, but that is all the evidence there is."

This is how the panels look today.

Text and pictures courtesy of Chris Valentine @2008