Chapel Of St Peter At Auckland Castle

A domestic aisled hall converted to a chapel, with terrace and steps.

The building was constructed around 1190, probably for Bishop du Puiset based on stylistic evidence, possibly on the foundations of an earlier hall, and was completed by 1249. The aisle walls were probably raised by Bishop Bek (1284–1311), replacing smaller gables. The most significant transformation occurred in 1661–1665 when Bishop Cosin oversaw its conversion to a chapel. This work included rebuilding the south wall, renewing the clerestory, and refacing the east and west walls. The craftsmen involved were mason John Langestaffe, joiners Marke Todd and James Hulle, and carpenters and carvers Abraham Smith, John Brasse and Richard Herring. In 1827, Bishop van Mildert raised the aisle floors to the level of the nave and refloored the chapel. Further restorations followed under Bishop Lightfoot and between 1978 and 1983 for the Church Commissioners.

The building is constructed of rusticated ashlar with coursed squared stone on the north wall.

The plan comprises a four-bay aisled nave and chancel with screen, a full-width vestibule to the west, a south porch leading to a west entrance passage and robing room.

The east elevation displays a tall five-light window with geometric tracery and two-light aisle windows with trefoil heads. Below these windows are blocked arches and a relieving arch, which are vestiges of the screens passage of the former domestic hall. The first bay of the north wall contains a similar blocked arch beneath its window, also part of the original domestic arrangements.

The south elevation, refaced for Cosin, features rich rustication with much decoration using lozenge jewels. The aisle windows are three-light with reticulated and decorated tracery. Seven clerestory windows, probably added for Cosin, have segmental heads and modified geometric tracery. Tall pinnacled buttresses line the walls; those at the aisle and clerestory angles are polygonal with ogee coping. Crocketed pinnacles are corbelled between the clerestory lights. The battlemented parapets run throughout.

The west gable holds a tall four-light window with reticulated tracery. At the top is a well-cut inscription reading ADORATE DOMINUM IN ATRIO SANCTO EIUS with Cosin's arms above. A south-east entrance projects with a canted arcaded Gothic porch of the 18th century below a two-light window under a battlemented parapet. The porch contains richly carved 17th-century doors. A terrace wall and steps occupy the east end, with shallow stone L-plan steps flanking a wall with ashlar coping; the end sections form parapets to the steps. At the centre is a stone inscription from 1881 recording Bishop Lightfoot's work. A second inscription dated 1752 reading JOSEPHUS EPISCOPUS FECIT presumably relates to work undertaken by Bishop Butler, who began major improvements to the grounds.

The interior features a black and white marble floor, four-bay arcades, a west screen, and a panelled beamed roof on arched braces and corbelled wall posts. The arcades have many-moulded pointed arches on quatrefoil piers with shaft rings; the north and south shafts are sandstone, whilst the east and west shafts are Frosterley limestone, which is also used for the capitals and arches. The central bays are shorter. The west responds have head corbels with waterleaf capitals (the southern one more elaborate); others have moulded capitals. Round lessenes above the piers support large carved figures of angels. In the west wall, three arches of a blind arcade with stiff leaf decoration, discovered during restoration in the 1980s, have been left exposed; this was the dais end of the original hall. In the north aisle's western bay, a pointed arch with stiff leaf capital has also been revealed.

Three steps lead to the altar, which is furnished with carved Frosterley limestone and an oak reredos of 1884 designed by Hodgson Fowler in the Perpendicular style, with carving by P de Wispelaere of Bruges. The woodwork created for Cosin is in his typical style, mixing Gothic and Baroque elements, and includes a pulpit and reading desk, chancel stalls with principal canopies, and a magnificent carved oak screen with swags of fruit and foliage.

Monuments include a Frosterley marble grave cover in the centre of the nave with a long inscription to Bishop Cosin, and a seated figure of Bishop Trevor dated 1775 by Nollekens. The ceiling is richly carved and painted with armorial bearings, particularly those of Bishop Cosin. Nineteenth-century armorial bearings of bishops are set on the aisle walls. The stained glass is mostly by Burlison and Grylls, with the arms of Bishop Cosin in stained glass in the west entrance vestibule.