Church Of St Peter

Parish church, now also functioning as a Christian centre. St Peter is said to have been founded by Aethelfled in 907 AD on the site of the Roman Praetorium (headquarters building), with some of its fabric possibly reused from that early period. It was unusually recorded as a 'temple' in Domesday and was the subject of a dispute over borough dues. The church maintained a close relationship with the city authorities. In the 13th century, the first 'Pentice' was built against the south wall—initially a timber structure, later rebuilt in stone probably in the late 17th or early 18th century. This extension served as a market court and latterly housed a court, a Mayor's Balcony, various shops and civic rooms until its demolition in 1803 to enable road widening. The City Assembly maintained the church clock from at least the 1460s and established a fund for church repairs in 1574, rebuilding the porch chamber in 1584. St Peter's was the guild church of the fraternity of St George, who had a chapel in the church during the 15th century, probably in the south aisle. The present structure dates to the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries but was significantly altered and restored in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. A spire was removed in 1780, having previously been rebuilt twice after being severely damaged by lightning. In 1849–1850, the church was repaired by Chester architect James Harrison, when the north gallery was extended and a south gallery added. A more extensive restoration was undertaken in 1886 by John Douglas, an architect influential in Chester's Vernacular Revival style and involved in the restoration of many of the city's medieval churches. Douglas' work included the addition of a pyramidal spire, renewal of window tracery to the south aisle, and new internal fittings. The building is constructed of red sandstone. The roof is not visible.

The church is approximately square in plan. Below the floor level of the north aisle lay the undercroft of a medieval townhouse, which was filled and paved over. There is an embraced west tower, formerly topped with a spire. The plan comprises two inner and two outer aisles, all at the level of Watergate Row North, with one aisle forming a continuous nave and chancel.

The south outer aisle has a flight of seven stone steps leading to the south door and Watergate Row North. The door has replaced diagonally-boarded double doors in a restored archway. Three rectangular windows of four lights dating to 1886–1889 are positioned above three arched windows rebuilt in the Perpendicular style at the same date. The stonework of the south face was partly removed by Thomas Harrison in 1803 when the Pentice was demolished.

The tower rises one stage above the roof, featuring a clock and bell opening of two cusped and transomed lights. The eaves are crenelated with crocketed pinnacles. A pyramidal roof of slate in the manner of John Douglas dates to the late 19th century; its faces are interrupted by a continuous horizontal louvre and topped with a wind vane. The tower formerly had a spire, which was removed and rebuilt in the 16th century, taken down in the 17th century, then rebuilt and finally removed in the 18th century.

The west end is partly obscured by 2 & 4 Watergate Street and The Victoria Public House, 2 Watergate Row North, with a plain face to the tower. The north windows of the Perpendicular north aisle have panel tracery. The east end features two low-pitched gables plainly expressed. The chancel and north inner aisle have traceried windows larger than those of the south aisle, which was formerly the chapel of St George. The outer north aisle, now containing the organ, has an inserted rectangular window of two lights.

Internally, the three-bay arcades do not match the window openings. The tower piers are rectangular in plan and support a ribbed vault of eight panels over the baptistry, with a circular bell-hole. The north-east pier has a damaged medieval fresco around a niche that held a Virgin and Child. The two southern arcades, with through mouldings, are in the Decorated style. The northern arcade is Perpendicular, dating to 1535–38.

The outer north aisle has a lean-to roof with low pitch and arch-braced main beams featuring carved foliar bosses and carved spandrels of three trusses. The inner north aisle has a restored camber-beam roof. The inner south aisle has shallow king-post trusses. The roof to the outer south aisle is replaced. Galleries were first recorded in 1637, with alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries; they cover the outer north and south aisles and part of the west end. Two carved corbel stones project from the south wall.

Fittings include a 15th-century bronze said to commemorate a lawyer. The pews are probably mid-to-late 19th century. East window glass dates to 1862 and 1963, with one pane dedicated to Prince Albert. A monument on the north wall of around 1750 commemorates Henry Bennett. The bells are by Rudhall of Gloucester and date to 1709.