Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

This is a parish church comprising work from the late 13th century, early 14th century, and 15th century, substantially restored in 1865-1866 by the Goddards of Leicester. The building is constructed of coursed ironstone rubble with limestone ashlar dressings and has lead roofs. The plan consists of a west tower, nave, north aisle, south aisle, south porch, chancel, north vestry, and organ chamber.

The church is entered through a continuous moulded and chamfered plinth of slighter form on the north aisle, with a continuous cill course running around the building except at the vestry.

The 15th-century west tower is constructed of ashlared limestone in four storeys divided by chamfered string courses, topped with a crenellated parapet. Diagonal buttresses with set-offs support the structure. The west doorway has chamfered jambs and hoodmould with headstops, leading into double plank doors with ornate iron hinges. Above this is a pointed arch three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and hood-mould. A pointed arch two-light bell-opening with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould sits above, with ascending arrow loops to the right. The south elevation carries a clock face on the third stage inscribed BLOH 1869 LEICESTER, with a single light trefoil head window above. Two-light bell-openings open to the north, south, and east.

The 15th-century clerestory is of ashlared limestone with a crenellated parapet, an east gable finial, and four four-centred arch three-light windows with hoodmoulds and headstops.

The north aisle features a coped parapet with cavetto moulded cornice enlivened with carved heads on its north wall. Angle buttresses with set-offs stand at the corners. The north wall carries a painted arch doorway with chamfered jambs, hoodmould, and plank door. To the west are late 13th-century two-light windows with bar tracery, separated by buttresses, all with hoodmoulds and headstops. A 15th-century four-centred arch three-light window with hoodmould and headstops appears in the west wall, and a similar four-light window in the east wall. A polygonal rood stair projection rises in the angle between the chancel and the east wall of the aisle.

The chancel has a crenellated parapet with east gable finial and cavetto moulded cornice enlivened with carved heads on its south wall only. Buttresses with set-offs support the structure. The walls were raised in the 19th century. The north wall contains a tall two-light window with flowing tracery and hoodmould with headstops, beneath which sits a probable late 13th-century piscina with painted chamfered arch and shafted jambs. To the west stands a 19th-century ashlared vestry with coped parapet and an ashlared organ chamber with crenellated parapet above. A very heavily moulded painted arch east doorway to the vestry features a hoodmould with headstops and plank door. The north wall of the vestry carries a single light four-centred arch window with hoodmould and headstops, and to its right a similar two-light window. The east wall displays a four-centred arch four-light window with panel tracery and hoodmould with headstops. The chancel east wall has angle buttresses and a four-light window with reticulated tracery and hoodmould with headstops. The south wall contains, from east to west, a tall two-light window with flowing tracery and hoodmould with headstops, followed by a buttress and then a priest's doorway with chamfered jambs, hoodmould, and plank door with ornate iron hinges. Another similar tall window follows, then a buttress and a further similar window.

The south aisle has a coped parapet and cavetto moulded cornice enlivened with carved heads, including a reset gargoyle. A four-centred arch four-light window with panel tracery, hoodmould, and headstops appears in the east wall. A diagonal buttress with set-offs is followed, from east to west, by a three-light window with flowing tracery and hoodmould with headstops, then a buttress with set-offs and a two-light window with reticulated tracery and hoodmould with headstops. To the west of the porch is a two-light window with geometrical tracery and hoodmould with headstops in the west wall.

The early 14th-century south porch is coped and gabled with angle buttresses. The doorway has double chamfered moulding with hoodmould and headstops. Single chamfered lancets with hoodmoulds and headstops open to east and west. Stone benches line the interior, and a double roll-moulded south doorway with hoodmould and headstops features a plank door with ornate hinges.

Interior

The interior features four-bay arcades with pointed arches, continuous hoodmoulds, and double-chamfered piers with engaged shafts, moulded capitals, and bases. A pointed double-chamfered tower arch contains an inner arch with octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases, and hoodmould with returned stops. The heavily moulded painted chancel arch has single shaft responds with moulded capitals and bases, and hoodmould with headstops.

The north aisle contains a continuous cill band and an early 14th-century tomb recess with pointed, heavily-moulded gable featuring foliate decoration and two partly damaged octagonal corner pinnacles. An inner trefoiled recess is present, but no effigy survives. A rood stair doorway has a chamfered four-centred arch. Three corbel heads are buried in the east wall.

The south aisle holds a similar tomb recess to that in the north aisle, but contains a recumbent effigy of Sir Richard Roberts (died 1644) with a coat of arms above. A small cupboard occupies the south-east corner.

The chancel south wall displays a 14th-century combined piscina and sedilia with four ogee arches. The north wall retains a cupboard with a 17th-century door and hinges. The vestry to the north contains reset Anglo-Saxon figure sculpture.

An alabaster reredos dating to around 1900 features a Last Supper panel carved in high relief. An octagonal bowl and stem font inscribed TCWC 1662 retains a heavily restored 17th-century wooden canopy. The 15th-century nave roof was heavily restored in the 19th century, as were the aisle roofs, while the chancel roof dates to the 19th century.

Monuments include an alabaster and slate tablet to Samuel Hill (died 1639) on the south wall of the chancel with a moulded classical surround with keystone, flanked by Ionic pilasters topped with a broken pediment. Above the choir stalls is a wooden plaque in moulded frame to Anne Brooke (died 1632), adorned with painted figures. A memorial bust to Reverend John Hanbury (died 1899) also stands on the south wall. On the north wall is an alabaster and slate tablet to Thomas Staveley (died 1631), flanked by Doric pilasters with strapwork decoration, topped with a round-headed moulding with decorative keystone containing a coat of arms. Above the vestry door is a memorial bust to William Hanbury (died 177_). The north aisle contains four 19th-century memorials on the north wall, all to the Ord family, and a 19th-century memorial plaque to William Ward on the west wall.

An organ reputed to date from 1759 was heavily restored in 1937. A 17th-century wooden poor box is attached to a pew near the south door. The 19th-century furnishings include an altar table, iron and wood altar rail, rood screen, pulpit, lectern, choir stalls, and pews. Mid-19th-century stained glass by Hardman fills the south-east window of the chancel, while three other chancel windows and the north-east window of the north aisle are all by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. 19th-century Minton tile floors complete the interior.