Church Of St Peter And Attached Boundary Walls

Church of St Peter and Attached Boundary Walls

This church combines work from the 12th, 14th, and early 16th centuries. The chancel was restored between 1851 and 1853 by GG Place, while the remainder of the church was restored in 1859 by GE Street. In 1865, the south porch was removed, an organ chamber was added to the north aisle, and the vestry was rebuilt. The nave's west end was extended and the west tower was rebuilt in 1898. A church hall was added in 1970. The boundary walls date to the mid to late 19th century.

The building comprises a chancel, vestry, nave with aisles, an organ chamber, a west tower, and a church hall. The nave, chancel, and tower have crenellated parapets, while the aisles have coped parapets.

The chancel is three bays long with buttresses throughout. Its east window is a 16th-century 5-light window with panel tracery and a hood mould. Each side has a restored segmented-headed Perpendicular window of 3 lights. The south side features two 3-light pointed arched windows with Decorated tracery and hood moulds to the west. The north side has a 2-storey lean-to vestry, remodelled in the 19th century with angle buttresses. At the east end of the vestry are 2-light windows on each floor—flat-headed below and segmental-pointed above—both with Decorated tracery.

The nave's clerestory has four pointed arched 3-light windows on each side with cusped heads. The south aisle has four bays with buttresses. At its east end is a 5-light window, and to the south are three similar windows, all with renewed reticulated tracery and hood moulds. The south doorway has a roll-moulded surround with shafts in three orders and a hood mould. The north aisle includes an integral organ chamber at its east end (added 1865) and an additional bay at its west end (added 1898). It has five bays with buttresses. At the east end is a small shouldered doorway. The north side has an off-centre flat-roofed porch with a moulded pointed arched doorway, flanked to the left by two 4-light pointed arched windows in chamfered surrounds. Two more similar windows appear to the west and at the west end.

The west tower has three stages with clasping buttresses to the second stage and angle buttresses above, topped with pinnacles. To the north is a pointed arched doorway with a triple-chamfered surround and hood mould. To the west is a pointed arched 4-light window with Decorated tracery; the remainder of the lower stage is covered by the church hall. A canted stair turret is at the southwest corner. The middle stage has loops and a west-facing clock. The bell stage has paired 2-light bell openings on each side, flanked and divided by pilaster strips, with an inset clock face to the east.

The church hall is stone-faced with two storeys. Its ground floor is largely open, supported on square concrete piers. The west side has a 4-light window. The south side features glazed screens and doors on the ground floor, with the entire first floor glazed on the south side.

The adjoining boundary walls enclose the north and east sides. Built in the 19th century of ashlar with a chamfered plinth and gabled coping topped with a roll mould, they feature a pair of square gatepiers on the east side, each topped with octagonal squat pinnacles. The north side has plain openings dating to the late 19th century.

Interior

The chancel is rendered with a moulded pointed arch without responds. It has a low-pitched king post roof, possibly 18th century, wooden panelling, and an early 20th-century reredos. A 19th-century iron and brass altar rail is at the east end. The east window contains stained glass by Barber of York, dated 1858. The north side has a pointed arched doorway flanked to the west by a pointed arched opening with Decorated tracery containing a stained glass panel and organ pipes. To the east is a 14th-century squint, a 19th-century piscina, and a stained glass window dated around 1889. The south side has a 14th-century cusped piscina on a foliage bracket and 19th-century wooden sedilia. Additional stained glass windows by Jones & Willis (around 1893) and others (dated 1889 and 1888) are present. The vestry's ground floor contains an incomplete stone spiral stair, and above are corbels and brackets for former eaves. A splayed opening serves as a squint. The vestry has a 19th-century roof, a shouldered corner fireplace, and associated fittings.

The nave has a plain low-pitched king post roof, possibly 18th century. The south arcade has four bays with octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches; its east and west responds retain remains of scallop capitals. The north arcade has four bays with round piers (renewed 1859) and double-chamfered arches; its east respond retains remains of a scallop capital. At the west end is a pointed tower arch with triple roll moulding. Below the tower is a 19th-century doorway to the bell chamber and a plain opening into the church hall.

The south aisle has a lean-to roof, largely original, with arch braces and wall shafts on corbels. Its south side has a cusped piscina to the east and a glazed internal porch to the west, dated 1911. The west end has a blocked 2-light pointed arched window. The north aisle has a renewed roof, a segmental-pointed arched north doorway, and a pointed arched opening at the east end with organ pipes corbelled out over 19th-century traceried double doors.

Fittings

The church contains traceried oak stalls and desks with misericords and open benches, all dating to the 19th century. A panelled octagonal stone pulpit by Street (1859) was raised in alabaster in 1923 and has an iron and brass handrail. There is an octagonal stone font with marble shafts and panels featuring angels around the bowl, dating to the 19th century. A large brass eagle lectern dates to 1909, and a benefactions board dates to the late 19th century.