Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter, Raithby cum Maltby

This parish church was built in 1839 by W. A. Nicholson, incorporating some fragments of late 13th-century stonework. The building is constructed in rendered brick with some green sandstone rubble, and features lead roofs hidden behind high parapets or battlements.

The church comprises a west tower, a nave with north aisle, south porch, and a chancel with a polygonal east end. A plinth runs around the entire building, with regularly placed buttresses throughout, each crowned with ornate pinnacles.

The west tower has three-stage angle buttresses and a pointed west window containing two pointed cusped lights with panel tracery, hood mould and head label stops. Above this is a quatrefoil with blind lancets on the north and south sides, and a clock on the north side. Bell openings on all four sides feature small pointed openings with two round cusped lights, mouchette, hood mould and head label stops. The tower is finished with moulded eaves, an ornate openwork parapet and eight ornate pinnacles.

The north aisle's west end has a pointed window with two cusped semi-circular headed lights, flowing tracery, hood mould and head label stops. The north side of the aisle contains two similar windows flanking a single pointed window with three pointed cusped lights and three oculi. The east end of the aisle has a lancet with internal cusped light and tracery, hood mould and head label stops, with moulded eaves and an ornate open-work parapet above featuring pinnacles.

The chancel's north side has a single pointed window with three pointed cusped lights, three oculi, hood mould and head label stops. The polygonal east end displays three windows, all pointed with three cusped pointed lights, ornate tracery, hood moulds and head label stops. The south side of the chancel has a single pointed window with three cusped pointed and ogee-headed lights, three oculi, hood mould and head label stops. Battlements with pinnacles run around the top of the chancel, crowned with an ornate east finial.

The nave's east gable features an ornate openwork parapet and ornate cross finial. The south side of the nave has two pointed windows, each with two semi-circular headed cusped lights, flowing tracery, hood mould and head label stops.

The gabled south porch features east and west blind lancets and a pointed, continuously chamfered south doorway with hood mould, head label stops and 20th-century traceried openwork wire doors. The inner doorway has a pointed head with continuously chamfered surround and a plank door. The porch is crowned with an ornate open-work parapet, pinnacles and cross finials.

Interior

The interior contains a west gallery with traceried panelling and a ribbed plank door beneath leading to the tower. The north arcade, dating to the late 13th century, comprises three bays with pointed double-chamfered heads, octagonal piers, and keeled and semi-circular responds with fillets, though the hood moulds and heads are 19th-century additions. A broad, shallow pointed 19th-century chancel arch features a continuous chamfer, hood mould and head label stops.

All windows have internal hood moulds and head label stops. The roofs are 19th-century tie beam construction; the chancel roof combines this with ornate tiernes and tiercerons. 19th-century pine pews have hinged doors, and there is a 19th-century altar rail. The polygonal pulpit is also 19th-century. The font is 15th-century and octagonal, featuring large quatrefoils on the bowl, supported on a cluster of filleted shafts.

The church contains 11 roundels of 16th-century stained glass, re-set in the nave windows.