Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a parish church located in Thorner, featuring a 15th-century tower, north aisle, and arcade piers that were reconstructed around 1855 by Mallinson and Healey. The church is built from creamy limestone for the tower, north aisle, and part of the south aisle, while the rest is rebuilt in gritstone, topped with a stone slate roof. The structure includes a west tower, nave, aisles, a south porch, and a chancel flanked by north and south chapels, all designed in the Perpendicular style.

The two-stage embattled tower has a plinth and angle buttresses with offsets. It features a three-light west window with an octagonal clock face above and two-light belfry windows. The south face has a small arched doorway at the base and a two-light window with chamfered lights above. The parapet is supported by a corbel table and corner pinnacles. The three-bay nave includes an original three-light window to the left of the gabled porch, which has a pointed-arched doorway with a richly-moulded surround and colonnettes. The angle buttresses are present, and to the right, there are two bays that are a 19th-century copy of the first bay, articulated by an offset buttress. The windows in the north aisle retain their original surrounds but have replaced tracery. The gable is coped and surmounted by a cross at the junction with the chancel. The two-bay chapels project forward and feature three-light pointed-arched windows, with coped gables topped by crosses. The north chapel has a ridge stack with a brattished cap, while the chancel breaks half a bay forward of the chapels. The east end displays three gables and a five-light east window with cusped lights and curvilinear tracery.

Inside, the church features pointed-arched arcades with octagonal piers that lack bases but have moulded capitals and 19th-century renewed brattished caps. Similar archways connect the tower, chancel, and chapels. The north chapel is blocked by an organ, and the nave has a king-post roof from the 19th century, while the chancel has an arched-braced roof. Notable monuments include wall tablets in the south chapel, with the most significant being a raised carved stone slab memorial to John Savill of Coppley, dating from around 1677. The furnishings include 19th-century pews and choir stalls with carved poppyheads. The church is a prominent feature within the village.