Description from record TR 13 SE 3 :
[TR 16153491] St. Leonard's Church [NAT] (1) The Church of St Leonard, Hythe, dates from about 1100. Additions and alterations were made about 1150, 1210, 1250, 1350 and 1750. (2) In normal use. (3) Parish Church of St. Leonard, Grade A, Oak Walk. Dates from circa 1100. Alterations by J. L. Pearson in 1880s. A medieval masonry wall south of Parish Church of St. Leonard, Grade II, Oak Walk. (For full descriptions see list). (4) St. Leonard, Hythe was a chapel of Saltwood throughout the Middle Ages, but that did not stop it from having the grandest chancel of any non-monastic church in the county. For, of course, Hythe was one of the Cinque Ports, at the height of her prosperity in the 12th century and 13th century. The fabric shows enlargements of increasing ambition during that period. At first the church had an unaisled Norman nave. This building, late in the 12th century, was given aisles and transepts. It was decided sometime not before c. 1230 to rebuild the chancel longer and to have three storeys of arcade, gallery and clerestory - the greatest possible rarity in a parish church. There were to be vaults in the aisles and a high vault, and this was built except for the vaults and the N. wall above the arcade which were not finished until 1886 by J. L. Pearson. From without, the chancel seems to rise like a prodigious grey cliff on its steep hillside site. Architecturally the exterior is bitty and unimpressive. The processional way through multi-shafted archways is now a macabre tourist attraction, the tidiest of boneholes, with hundreds of skulls in racks. In the interior of the chancel, nine steps lead up from the crossing, and another three to the sanctuary, an arrangement majestic enough in itself. Two chancel bays, with aisles, and a sanctuary in a different rhythm, divided by blind walls form the aisles. The rest of the church was not rebuilt, but remodelled, and in scale and unity does not match the chancel. In the nave, the S. side is the most impressive. There are three bays, with alternately round and octagonal supports. The aisle was widened c. 1300. The nave roof by Street, and was part of the restoration of 1874-5. There is a two-storeyed S. porch. The west tower and the south transept were rebuilt in 1751. (5) The present church at Hythe replaced an early Norman structure enlarged in late Norman times with the addition of nave aisles. The Norman chancel was pulled down and replaced in the 13th century. It is likely that the main entrance prior to the 13th century was by a west door, but the erection of the tower made this inconvenient, and so the door was moved to the S. side of the nave. The whole tower, or as W. A. Scott Robertson believes only the upper part, was rebuilt in the mid 1700s as it had fallen down. (6-11) According to Leland, there was at one time a fair abbey on the site of the parish church with ruins of its houses and offices nearby. There seems to be no other reference to such an abbey. (12) Additional bibliography - not consulted. (13-15)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
HYTHE
THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST LEONARD
I
Dates from circa 1100. Alterations by J L Pearson in 1880s. Built of Kentish ragstone with Caen stone window dressings. The interior has a 4 bay nave and North and South aisles with Cl3 and c14 pillars. Clerestory. Chancel arch.
North and South transepts. The tower was added in 1751 and the South Transept
is also c18. The Ambulatory built circa 1220 AD houses a neatly stacked collection of 1200 skulls and 8000 thigh bones of the C13 and c14. It is thought that these were exhumed from the graveyard in order to make more space for the plague victims of the C14 and C15.
Listing NGR: TR1615234913 (18)

Historic England, Archive material associated with St Leonard's Church, Hythe, Listed Building (Archive). SKE54567.

<1> OS 6" 1961 (OS Card Reference). SKE48369.

<2> Kent 1935 191-4 (JC Cox) (OS Card Reference). SKE45674.

<3> F1 CFW 18-APR-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42624.

<4> DOE(HHR) District of Hythe Kent December 1973 30 (OS Card Reference). SKE41144.

<5> Buildings of England NE and E Kent 1983 358-360 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38411.

<6> Arch Cant 18 1889 403-420 (WA Scott Robertson) (OS Card Reference). SKE34777.

<7> JBAA 20 1914 202-206 (OS Card Reference). SKE44902.

<8> Arch J 86 1929 310-312 (OS Card Reference). SKE36720.

<9> Arch Cant 30 1914 263-371 (HD Dale) (OS Card Reference). SKE34988.

<10> Arch Cant 30 1914 293-308 (GM Livett) (OS Card Reference). SKE34989.

<11> Arch Cant 44 1932 293-294 (OS Card Reference). SKE35139.

<12> Md Relig Houses England and Wales 1971 461 (D Knowles and RN Hadcock) (OS Card Reference). SKE46709.

<13> Wanderings of an Antiquary 1854 118-121 (T Wright) (OS Card Reference). SKE51267.

<14> The Crypt of St Leonard's Church Hythe and its contents (HD Dale) (OS Card Reference). SKE50330.

<15> Antiquary 22 1980 62-4 (OS Card Reference). SKE33274.

<16> Field report for monument TR 13 SE 3 - April, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5370.

<17> Diocese of Canterbury (Tim Tatton-Brown), 1999, Hythe, St Leonard:Diocesan church survey (Unpublished document). SKE29635.

<18> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.