At the west end is a square bell tower, surmounted by a copper-covered octagonal spire which is louvred at the base; the distinctive design of which was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "funny".

[3] The turbulent times following the Reformation in England affected St Leonards; in 1574, the rector resigned after being accused of failing to preach regular sermons and in 1586, Robert Searle was threatened with removal for Nonconformist practices.

[3] In June 1648, the Siege of Colchester began; Thomas Fairfax, commander of the Roundhead besiegers encamped on Lexden Heath, parked his artillery on the high ground behind the church.

[3] By the start of the 19th century, the church building was in a very decrepit state and was furthermore, too small for the number of parishioners as the area had begun to change from an agricultural village to a suburb of Colchester.

[1] The project was led by the rector, George Preston, and funded by local subscriptions of £900 together with a £500 grant from the Society for Promoting the Enlargement, Building, and Repairing of Churches and Chapels.

[1] The new church was described by the antiquarian Thomas Wright in 1836: "...a very handsome specimen of modern Gothic architecture, with a tower and spire leaded; the interior is extremely neat, having a convenient chancel, and at the west end a gallery for the singers..."[5]In 1845 a new parish of All Saints' Stanway (now All Saints' Shrub End) was formed from part of the west of Lexden parish.

Much of the elaborately carved woodwork in the church is the work of the rector at that time, John Henry Lester[3] (1845–1900), who also wrote a number of hymns.

[11] The chuchyard was closed to burials in 1946, but a garden of rest, featuring a columbarium for 300 urns[3] and an altar, to the design of Bailey and Walker was opened in 1950.