Church Of Saint Peter And Saint Paul

The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a church dating primarily to the 13th and 14th centuries, with a 15th-century tower. The chancel was rebuilt in 1838. The structure is constructed of cobbles with freestone dressings, and has graduated slate roofs.

The west tower is three-stage, with a moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses with offsets, chamfered strings between stages, a pointed four-light west window, pointed two-light belfry openings with Perpendicular tracery, and a crenellated parapet. The nave is aisled with four bays, the tower occupying the west bay, and includes a south porch and a 2-bay chancel with a south chapel and a north vestry. The nave has a moulded plinth, pinnacled buttresses with offsets, and pointed three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery. The south door is pointed with continuous mouldings within a square-headed frame featuring blank quatrefoils and mouchettes. The clerestory has two square-headed two-light windows. A late 14th-century pointed north door has continuous wave moulding. The chancel has a moulded plinth, buttresses with offsets, two three-light windows under four-centred arches with Perpendicular tracery, and a segmental-headed priests door that was enlarged in the early 19th century. The south chancel chapel’s east window is pointed and three-light with Curvilinear tracery. A 19th-century east window of three lights with cusped intersecting Y-tracery under a pointed arch is also present. A re-set lancet is found in the north vestry’s east wall, with dogtooth under a hood-mould with face-stops.

Inside, a pointed double-chamfered tower arch, incorporating a stilted outer order upon moulded capitals and chamfered responds, is present. Similar arches define the north and south walls of the tower, within earlier nave arcades. These have pointed double-chamfered arches on hexagonal piers, and continuous hood-moulds with face-stops to the south arcade. The pointed double-chamfered chancel arch has a hood-mould on moulded capitals, but without bases to the responds. The south chancel chapel arcade features pointed double-chamfered arches, an octagonal pier, and responds with a grotesque mask to the west and a heraldic shield to the east. A trefoil-headed niche sits over a stoup at the east end of the south aisle. The church contains a 13th-century octagonal font with a chamfered column and bar- and face-stops.

Group Value context: This church is designated a Grade I listed building, reflecting its exceptional architectural and historical importance.