Church Of St Peter At Gowts

Church of St Peter at Gowts

A Grade I listed church of medieval origin, substantially altered and extended in the 19th century. The building comprises a west tower, nave and chancel under continuous roof, two aisles, porch, organ chamber, vestry, and south chapel. It is constructed of coursed rubble and dressed stone with ashlar dressings and slate roofs.

The church dates from the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. The north aisle and porch were added in 1852 by W A Nicholson. The chancel was enlarged in 1887 by C H Fowler.

The west tower is unbuttressed and rises in two stages beneath a pyramidal roof. It features a chamfered plinth, quoins, string course, eaves band, and coped parapet. The 19th-century round-headed west doorway has relief decoration in its tympanum. Above are a round-headed window and a clock stage, also round-headed with hoodmoulds. A further round-headed window appears on the south side. The recessed bell stage contains double round-headed openings on each side with mid-wall shafts and fluted capitals.

The nave has a coped gable and a 19th-century turret-shaped chimney at the south-east corner. The south-east side displays three restored two-light pointed arched windows above the chapel.

The north aisle comprises three bays with buttresses, chamfered plinth, and coped gables. It features Decorated style windows of two and three lights with hoodmoulds. The gabled north porch has a matching doorway.

The south aisle, of 13th-century date, also has three bays with chamfered plinth and coped gables. The south side contains three buttresses, a blocked doorway to the left, and two Decorated windows of four and three lights with hoodmoulds.

The north-east chapel and organ chamber rise to two storeys with a coped east gable and stack, and a timber-framed west gable with a wooden mullioned window. The north side has a pointed arched door flanked by a stone mullioned window and a Decorated three-light window. The east end contains two-light pointed arched windows on each floor.

The 19th-century vestry has a parapet and pointed arched north door with two and three light pointed arched windows throughout.

The chancel has a coped east gable and sill band with linked hoodmoulds. It features three round-headed windows and a single round window above. The south side has low round-headed windows to left and right, with three 19th-century ogee-headed lancets.

The south chapel, built in 1347 as a chantry, occupies two bays and has corner and angle buttresses, plinth, and coped gables with kneelers. The south side displays two three-light pointed arched windows with intersecting tracery; the east end has a similar window.

Internally, the tower arch has plain imposts, a 19th-century wooden screen, and gallery, with a triangular-headed doorway above. The nave contains a 19th-century north arcade of four bays with concave-sided octagonal piers, four keeled shafts, stiff-leaf capitals, and double-chamfered arches with hoodmoulds. The south arcade is similar but its 14th-century eastern bay has octagonal responds with moulded capitals and no hoodmoulds. The roof is a 19th-century arch-braced king-post design with struts. Both aisles have 19th-century lean-to roofs.

The north aisle has west and north-west windows dated to around 1891 by Kempe, and a wooden arch to the chapel at the east end.

The north chapel and organ chamber features a 19th-century marble and ashlar aumbry with shafts on its north side, and a canted barrel-vaulted wooden roof with painted decoration.

The south chapel contains a double-chamfered arch with demi-shafts to the west. The north-east corner holds a tomb recess to Radulfus Jolyf, dated 1347, with an inscribed soffit and hoodmould with triple shafts. Beside it are the remains of a squint and two corbels. The roof is a 19th-century arch-braced king-post design with painted decoration.

The chancel is archless and contains a hanging rood of 1920 by Temple Moore and a painted barrel-vaulted roof. The north side features a two-bay arcade to the chapel and organ chamber with Perpendicular style wooden screens. The east end has a Perpendicular style stone reredos with figures dating to the 20th century. All east and south-west windows contain 19th-century stained glass. The south side has a restored ogee-headed piscina to the east.

Fittings include an 11th-century tub font with blind arcading on a renewed stem. Other fittings date to the 19th century. Memorials comprise twelve late 18th and 19th-century tablets and a war memorial board dated 1918.