Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

Parish church with possible 12th-century remains, rebuilt around 1300 with a chancel dating to around 1340 in the curvilinear Decorated style. The nave may have been rebuilt towards the end of the 14th century, as evidenced by the nave arcades. The tower was rebuilt in the early 17th century with stones dated 1614 in the second stage and 1615 in the top stage. Some work, including the blocking of the east window, was undertaken before 1810. The church was restored by G E Street between 1876 and 1878.

The building is constructed of random rubble stone with ashlar dressings, quoins, buttresses and roof and gable-parapets, covered with plain tiled roofs. The plan comprises a west tower, a nave with north and south aisles and north and south porches, and a chancel.

The three-stage tower has diagonal buttresses away from the church and side angle buttresses against it. The stages are separated by dripmoulds, with the second stage being very shallow. The topmost stage is surmounted by a crenellated parapet with corner obelisk finials. Below the parapet are single quatrefoil openings, with early 17th-century Perpendicular-style windows in the stage below, each of four lights arranged two on two, with semi-circular cusped heads and upper quatrefoils. The west window, probably of the 14th century and restored, has two lights with a single upper light set within a chamfered surround with a hollow-chamfered hoodmould carried across the face of the tower. A small window on the south side of the second stage is partially hidden by a clock face on the north side.

The nave has lower aisles and a four-bay clerestorey with identical windows to those of the right side on the two-bay north aisle and at the west end of that aisle. A window with Y tracery is located to the left of the gabled porch on the north aisle. The south aisle has a two-light window to the right, probably a 17th-century copy of 14th-century work, and a wide window to the left dating to the 15th or even 16th century. The central porch is gabled with a hollow-chamfered outer surround.

The chancel has three bays with identical curvilinear Decorated tracery of mouchettes and trefoils over three lights to all windows, surmounted by slightly ogee hoodmoulds and separated by buttresses with crocketted and gabled canopies to niches below and similar canopies without crockets to the weatherings above. Below the left-hand south window is a very small two-light window. Below the central north window are two doorways: the left-hand one is round-arched and probably the remains of a 12th-century former priest's doorway to the former sacristy, now gone but with its gabled roofline still visible against the south aisle; the right-hand one has a triple hollow-chamfered ogee surround with remains of side crocketted finials. The east window, flanked by buttresses similar to those at the sides of the chancel and with five lights topped by curvilinear tracery, is by Street, 1876-78.

Interior

The tower arch is double-chamfered. The four-bay nave arcades have late 14th-century red sandstone piers with four shafts and four hollows, carrying arches with double wave-mouldings. A clerestorey is positioned above. A pre-14th-century roof line is visible at the west end against the tower. The 14th-century nave roof features brattished tie-beams with arcading in the spandrels of the braces and to either side of the king-posts, moulded ridge-piece and purlins, and various moulded bosses. This roof was restored in 1876-78 with retention of the 14th-century work. A blocked pointed rood-loft doorway is located to the left of the chancel arch. The 14th-century tower arch has double chamfers on piers similar to those of the nave arcades. The chancel windows have wave-moulded rere-arches and hoodmoulds with head stops.

The font, probably by Street (1876-78), is of stone with an octagonal bowl decorated with leaf and tracery panels on an octagonal base with piers in the corners. An arcaded and traceried stone pulpit, also probably by Street (1876-78), is present. Other furnishings date to the later 19th century. Remains of the base of the roodscreen, probably of the 15th century, survive. Some 14th-century stained glass fragments are present in the chancel windows.