Parish Church Of St Peter

This Anglican parish church was built between 1834 and 1836 to designs by J P Pritchett of York, a leading nonconformist chapel architect. It replaced an earlier church of the early 16th century that had itself succeeded an 11th- or 12th-century building. What began as a straightforward rebuilding became more ambitious, involving construction of a crypt, extending the nave by 30 feet, and raising the tower to 120 feet. Some elements from the earlier church were incorporated into the new building.

Exterior

The church is constructed in ashlar stone with a pitched slate roof. It consists of a nave with flanking aisles, a west tower, a south transept, and a lower single-bay chancel flanked by single-storey polygonal vestries added later (the north by 1851, the south in 1879).

The chancel is shallow, with a single plain pointed arch window on each side. Its east end features a large five-light window with perpendicular tracery and a crenellated transom, set above a semi-basement shouldered arch doorway flanked by small pointed arch windows.

The nave has a crenellated parapet and chamfered dado throughout, with shallow buttresses—diagonal at the corners—topped with crocketed pinnacles. On the north side, eight two-centred headed windows with plain chamfers, perpendicular tracery, and hoodmoulds are arranged in pairs divided by buttresses. All are two-light windows with one transom, except at the west end where the window has no transom and sits above a former doorway, now blocked, which has buttresses to either side and 20th-century simple tracery over the blocking.

The south side is dominated by a broad transept with a gabled roof, cross finial at the apex, and diagonal corner buttresses with crocketed finials. Two buttresses divide its three windows: a central four-light window with two transoms flanked by three-light windows on each side. The remaining nave windows match those on the north side, but at the west end is a doorway similar to the blocked north door but still in use, providing access to the crypt. At the east end, another similar doorway is approached up a flight of steps, with small arched windows at ground level between the doors, lighting the crypt below.

The west tower rises over the west entrance in six stages, covered throughout with perpendicular traceried panelling. It has three-light louvred bell openings, diagonal buttresses with crocketed pinnacles, and openwork traceried crenellations. Clocks appear on each face. Below is a triple-arched doorway with a three-light traceried window with one transom above.

At the east end, an octagonal vestry stands on either side of the chancel. The northern vestry has a crenellated parapet, flower finial on its pyramidal roof, a north door, and simple pointed arch windows with hood moulds. The southern vestry, also with a crenellated parapet and south door, has traceried windows with decorative hood moulds featuring carved label stops in the form of faces, including Jesus, Mary, a former bishop of Ripon, and Benjamin Disraeli.

Interior

Entry is through the west door into an entrance lobby beneath the tower. A small arched door leads to a spiral staircase accessing the tower. Further doors on each side lead to the gallery; the left-hand stair has been removed. An arched double door leads into the nave, at the rear of which is a cleared narthex area with bench pews beyond. The rear two rows, serving as wardens' seats, have tall blind traceried backs and shouldered ends, possibly reused from an earlier building or brought from elsewhere.

The aisles are defined by open arches with octagonal columns supporting the galleries, which are also supported on transverse beams with panelled traceried decoration. The timber roof has tie beam and king post trusses infilled with traceried panels and large bosses.

The font, positioned to the right at the rear of the nave, is dated 1570 and bears the cipher ER (Elizabeth Regina) and the arms of England and France quartered, crudely inscribed. To the rear left, an inserted kitchen now occupies the space where the second stair to the gallery formerly stood.

The Lady Chapel occupies the wide, shallow south transept and contains wooden furniture and a carved parclose screen to the nave, which serves as a Second World War memorial, all crafted by Robert Thompson of Kilburn.

A low platform extends into the east end of the nave, containing an altar by Robert Thompson and a polygonal timber pulpit with linenfold panelling and a wrought iron balustrade to the steps. To the left stands the organ, a Conacher instrument of 1908 restored by Philip Wood in 1984.

The chancel contains carved choir pews with ogee-shaped crocketed ends and poppy-head finials that may pre-date the 19th-century church. In the sanctuary stands a gilded timber baldachino by Sir Ninian Comper (1921) with four Tuscan columns, entablature, and angels on top carrying swords made from candles, designed as a First World War memorial. The east window contains stained glass also by Comper. Other stained glass in the church dates mainly from 1834-6, with some from 1852 by Willement.

Various neo-classical marble tablets line the walls of the aisles, including one to the Reverend Henry Venn, vicar from 1759 to 1771, whose zealous ministry did much to combat nonconformity in the town. The finest memorial is in the south gallery near the north end, commemorating Robert Brook, and features a broken column, a sarcophagus, and an aedicule with diagonally placed consoles.

The galleries have carved wood-panelled fronts and box pews on three sides. Those at the centre rear are later additions fronted with carved panels clearly reused from elsewhere, in similar style to other reused carved timber. Above the south transept is a cleared area used for meetings.

The north vestry is wood-panelled and contains cupboards and a small toilet within the walls. Its pyramidal roof has narrow exposed beams radiating from the apex. The south (choir) vestry is larger, with exposed stonework around the windows and door, and a panelled ceiling.

The crypt area contains offices and a restaurant open to the public. The ceilings are vaulted.

Later Alterations

The interior was reordered in 1873 with renewal of pews and a new pulpit. In 1923 the sanctuary was reordered with the installation of the Comper baldachino and east window. The south transept was redesigned in the 1940s with the oak screen by Robert Thompson. Further internal reordering took place in the 1980s, with a dais installed in the body of the church and a Robert Thompson altar.

Setting and Associated Structures

A number of 17th-century tomb slabs, mainly those of the Brookes of New House Hall, are used as paving outside the west end. St Peter's Gardens to the north, formerly the churchyard, also contain tombs and monuments. A stone arched entrance on the south side is a later addition.

The church occupies a central position in Huddersfield and dominates the area with its tall and elaborate tower and striking south face.