Church Of St Peter And St Paul

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

Parish church, originally constructed in 1363, with 15th-century modifications and substantially restored and rebuilt in 1862 by architect R. J. Withers. Built of grey limestone ashlar and squared coursed ironstone rubble with slate and lead roofs. The church comprises a western tower, nave, aisles, chancel, and vestry.

The tall 15th-century three-stage grey ashlar tower features a bell moulded plinth, two chamfered string courses, an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles, and full-height stepped corner buttresses with gargoyles above. The middle stage has single cusped-headed lights in deep concave moulded surrounds on all but the east side. The four-stage belfry lights consist of two pairs of lights with trefoil ogee heads and mouchettes beneath a common ogee hood, with two pairs of blank cusped panels below within the moulded surround. The west doorway has a four-centred head with concave chamfered and moulded surround and hood. Above it is a large three-light window with cusped heads to the lights, panel tracery, and double concave moulded surround.

The north aisle west wall contains a 14th-century three-light window with an ogee head to the middle light and mouchettes. The north aisle north wall has a 14th-century doorway with single chamfered moulded hood and animal head stops, and four 14th-century three-light windows with cusped ogee heads, chamfered square surrounds, extensively recut in the 19th century. The end bay functions as a vestry with a pointed doorway and two-light window; the vestry east wall has a 19th-century window with intersecting tracery.

The chancel north wall contains a 19th-century lancet window, and a fragment of a 13th-century shallow incised cross fleury grave slab is reused in the north-east buttress of the chancel. The east window comprises three lights with 15th-century reveals but 19th-century tracery. The south wall has two 19th-century two-light windows. The east window of the south aisle, dated to the early 15th century, has three lights with cusped ogee heads, panel tracery, and hood. The south aisle contains two three-light and one two-light 14th-century windows matching those on the north side. Further west is a blocked pointed doorway with reeded imposts. The west wall of the south aisle has a small two-light 15th-century window with concave moulded surround and hood with human head label stops.

Interior

The 14th-century five-bay nave arcades have octagonal piers and responds with bell moulded bases, moulded capitals, and double chamfered arches. The second pier from the west on the north side bears a Latin inscription: "This work was completed AD 1363, Robert Day then vicar". The 14th-century tower arch has deeply chamfered responds, moulded capitals, a double splayed arch, and a single splayed continuous outer order. The chancel arch has a continuous double chamfered moulding. A similar though 19th-century arch opens into the former north chapel, now the vestry. South of the chancel arch is a doorway with four-centred arched head providing access to a rood stair. In the chancel north wall, a 14th-century double chamfered archway opens into the former north chapel.

The reredos features an ashlar framework with brattished top, inlaid with elaborate hand-painted tiles and gilded panels, and flanked by plainer tiled panels. All fittings, including the octagonal font, date to the 19th century.

Monuments

In the north wall of the aisle are two rectangular inscribed tablets to members of the de Elkynton family, who died in 1322 and 1328. A similar tablet on the south wall of the chancel commemorates Thomas Jekyl, vicar from 1461 to 1501.