Church Of Saints Peter And Paul

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is a parish church located in Longhoughton village. The earliest parts of the church, the nave and the western section of the chancel, likely date to the mid-11th century. The west tower was constructed in the early 12th century, with the south aisle, chancel extension, and possibly the upper part of the tower added around 1200. The porch was remodelled in the 18th century, the upper section of the tower was rebuilt around 1840 following a fire, and a restoration with partial rebuilding of the aisle and chancel, along with the addition of a vestry, occurred in 1873, designed by Streatfield.

The church is constructed from a mix of materials. The 11th-century sections are of coursed rubble, the tower is of large squared sandstone blocks (red in the lower portion and grey above), the chancel extension is of squared stone, the aisle is of large rubble, the porch is of squared stone with older rubble on the west side, and the 1873 additions are of squared stone with ashlar dressings. The roof is covered in Welsh slate.

The west tower is broad and squat, comprising two stages with a chamfered setback. It features stepped buttresses on the south and west sides, with narrow round-headed lights in each wall. The tower has 19th-century two-light belfry openings in a Saxon style, except on the east side, which displays an old blocked opening and weatherings relating to two levels of the nave roof; a string course sits below an embattled parapet.

The west end of the aisle has an old chamfered plinth and a 19th-century two-light window. The south wall is largely 19th-century, punctuated by old stepped buttresses at each end. The porch has a plain round-headed arch, a coped gable with a finial cross, wood-topped rubble benches, and a studded 19th-century south door featuring foliate hinges within a moulded pointed arch. Two windows, each with two trefoiled lights, are located to the east. The east end of the aisle exhibits a 15th-century two-light window with a panelled square head, positioned below the head of a 13th-century lancet window. The north wall of the nave contains three 1873 trefoil-headed lancets and the jambs of a blocked medieval doorway.

The chancel displays medieval masonry in the lower sections of the walls only, with all windows being 19th-century replacements: paired and single lancets on the south, a single lancet on the north, and three stepped round-headed lights in the east end. A 12th-century chevron-moulded voussoir and the head of a 12th-century cross slab are incorporated into the east wall. The gabled vestry has a two-light window. Coped gables and finial crosses are present.

Inside, the church is plastered. A moulded semicircular tower arch, with chamfered imposts on stepped jambs, is present. The arcade features double-chamfered pointed arches with a chamfered hood to the nave, supported by octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases, and corbel responds. The south aisle east window has a shouldered round rear arch. The 11th-century chancel arch is slightly-stilted and round, with a chamfered impost band; a squint is located to the south. The chancel has a double-chamfered segmental-pointed arch leading to the vestry/organ chamber and two small recesses with pointed arches, one trefoiled, south of the sanctuary. The roofs are 19th-century: the nave features arch-braced collar-beam trusses and scissor braces, while the chancel has similar trusses and a wagon vault.

The font has an older octagonal bowl set on a 19th-century panelled shaft and moulded base. Various 18th- and early 19th-century wall tablets are displayed in the south aisle. An old candelabra in the nave has been adapted for electric lighting.