Church Of St Mary And St Peter

The Church of St Mary and St Peter is a parish church dating from 1827-30, designed by Richard Lane. It is constructed from coursed and squared rubble with a Welsh slate roof. The church features a west tower, nave, and aisles unified under a single roof, all executed in a simple Gothic style.

The four-stage west tower has a doorway with a Perpendicular arch flanked by foiled moulded panels, a corbel table, a quatrefoil frieze, and a large, two-tier, three-light Perpendicular window with a crocketed hood mould above the doorway. A lower stage houses a clock, with an acanthus frieze below the two-tier bell chamber’s lights, while a trefoiled frieze sits below the embattled parapet. Polygonal angle buttresses form pinnacles. Narrow blind panelled bays with polygonal buttresses and pinnacles link the tower to the north and south porches, which clasp it. These porches contain two-tier, three-light windows in their west walls and buttresses on their outer angles. Doorways within the porches are set within wide, shallow segmental arches with shafts and a crocketed hood mould. A blind, foiled niche sits above the doors, topped by an embattled parapet.

The aisles are uniform, divided into six bays by buttresses that terminate as pinnacles, with heavier polygonal buttresses and pinnacles with coronets marking the corners. Each bay has a three-light, two-tier window with shafts. Additional entrance porches are located to the east of the aisles, with shafts and moulding around the archways. The shallow chancel has a high roof, a trefoiled frieze beneath the parapet, and polygonal buttresses. The city arms are displayed in relief above the four-light east window, which has slender tracery. Symmetrical vestries were added to the east in 1967.

Inside, north and south entrance lobbies contain shallow stone spiral staircases with cast iron balustrades offering access to upper galleries. A six-bay arcade has slender, possibly cast iron, clustered columns with high bases, foliate capitals, and roll moulded arches. The ceiling is sexpartite vaulted with bosses. The church is galleried on three sides, supported by additional cast iron columns across the west. Lozenge panelling with quatrefoil decoration adorns the fronts of the galleries, and an organ is housed in the western gallery. A wide chancel arch leads to a shallow chancel. Early 20th-century oak fittings are present, including pews and dado panelling throughout. The chancel features panelling with integral, canopied sedilia dating from 1933. A triptych, by E.Stanley Watkins (1908), depicts Christ in Majesty, in a neo-medieval style incorporating representations of significant figures in the history of the Church of England. A side chapel in the north aisle also contains a 1908 triptych by Watkins, in a similar style with arched, hinged panels. The church was refitted circa 1975 by Stephen Dykes Bower, who introduced a complete frescoed interior with geometrical painted panelling – using late medieval emblems such as quatrefoils and fleurs de lys – in rich colours. Altar rails and a lectern were designed to complement the geometry of the replaced window tracery.