[1] Leonard Stanley is a small village situated about 4 mi (6.4 km) southwest of the town of Stroud in Gloucestershire.

In 1116, after consultation with Theulf, Bishop of Worcester, Roger II gave the church of St Leonard to his clerk Sabricht and founded a house of Austin canons sometime between 1128 and 1131.

Roger II had endowed the college with gifts of land which included the curacies of Arlingham, Slimbridge, and Uley.

As an act of placation, Roger III granted the church and the priory, with all its rights and possessions, to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester.

The change from an Augustinian to Benedictine house took place during a time of upheaval and civil war, known as ‘the Anarchy’.

It was almost exactly three years later, on 11 June 1538, that Henry sent an imperative request to the Abbot of Gloucester to recall the monks from Stanley St Leonard.

Annual payments of 5s were made to Nicholas Wikes of the Manor House, £6 to the parish curate and £13 6s 8d to the vicar of Cam.

After the dissolution, the curate's stipend was paid by the owners of the priory estate, and parishioners were eventually granted access to the bell tower.

An excavation of the site carried out in 1914 revealed that the original building was rectangular and had an apse at the east end.

A division of the parochial and conventual parts were clearly demarcated by a solid rood screen in the western arch of the tower.

[1] The figures depicted included a kneeling angel, the virgin Mary, and flowing patterns of scrolls and flowers.

This was situated opposite the north transept and initially housed the church wardens and served as a poorhouse from 1750.

These characteristics include large hands, bulbous eyes, and cap like hair which are seen in the Leonard Stanley sculptures.

Set in the south wall of the chancel above the aumbry is a relief of two animals representing ‘the Temptation in the Garden of Eden’.

From the unusual iconography used, this work appears to have been influenced by the Augustinian theologian Hugh of St. Victor whose ideas spread across England around 1134.

[6] The two orders of chevrons on the doorways and the dragon-head label stops are also helpful and indicative that the completion of the building work occurred between the 1140s and 1150s.

The construction time for the priory church has been estimated at 10 to 15 years based on similar buildings in England of the period.

Another unusual sculptural feature is an animal's head with deeply drilled out ears, eyes, and nostrils which is situated on the west wall of the tower.

In Christian Iconography, the bull or ox is an animal associated with St. Luke[20] though the reason for this sculpture and the positioning of it is not understood.