Church of St. Peter

Church of St. Peter

Parish church of 13th, 14th and 15th century date, restored in 1879 by James Fowler of Louth. The building is constructed of ashlar and coursed limestone rubble with lead and slate roof. It comprises a western tower, nave with clerestory, south aisle and porch, and chancel.

The ashlar tower dates to the 14th century and has three stages with triple moulded plinth and two string courses, featuring stepped corner buttresses. The west face displays a two-light 14th-century window with curvilinear tracery, hood mould and head stops in the first stage. The second stage contains an empty niche with crocketed and finial top. The south face is blank in the first two stages but has a large square painted sundial in a red surround with gold numerals in the second stage. All faces have 14th-century two-light belfry openings with reticulated tracery. The octagonal broach spire sits on a decorated corbel table and has three tiers of alternating lucarnes.

The north side of the nave comprises coursed limestone rubble on its upper part, with a slate roof decorated with ridge tiles and a stone coped gable with cross fleury to the ridge. It is arranged in two bays marked by three stepped buttresses and has a double moulded plinth. A blocked north door is present, along with two three-light 15th-century windows with panel tracery and hood moulds. The north side of the chancel has similar roof and gable treatment to the nave, featuring a single two-light 15th-century window with cusped tracery and four centre head, and a blocked four centre window. The east window sits on a splayed string course and is a three-light 15th-century window with triangular head and hood mould. The south side contains an off-centre small priests' door with four centre head, flanked by single 15th-century two-light windows with four centre heads. The south aisle has a lead roof, with a 14th-century two-light window with reticulated tracery on the west face. The south face of the aisle has a moulded plinth and cornice with two two-light 14th-century windows with recut reticulated tracery, flat heads and hood moulds.

The ashlar south porch has a slate roof and stone coped gable with cross fleury. The plinth is panelled with quatrefoils below a splayed roll moulding. The arch has been recut and features 14 engaged nook shafts and hood moulds with human mask labels. Inside the porch is a reset 14th-century niche with ogee head, small vault and pinnacles. Below this is an inscription regarding a legacy to Mary, widow of Edward Parnham, dated 1701. The south doorway has a plain moulded surround and may date to the 13th century. A 13th-century lancet window is present on the western south aisle. The clerestory has three 15th-century two-light windows with reticulated tracery beneath a continuous hood mould.

Interior

The three-bay south arcade is 13th-century with double-chamfered pointed arches and two octagonal piers, one with a stiff leaf capital. The east respond also has stiff leaf, whilst the west respond sits on a corbel head. The tower arch is a small 14th-century opening, with the tower floor supported on corbels which are reused 13th-century nook shaft capitals. The 14th-century chancel arch has octagonal responds. A cusped piscina containing a statue, said to be Roman, is located in the south aisle. Two plain statue brackets are positioned at the east end. Blocked entrances to the rood stairs, both upper and lower, are visible in the north nave wall. The nave and chancel roof, pews, pulpit, lectern and Minton tiled floor all date from the 1879 restoration. A 15th-century octagonal font with shields in pointed quatrefoils is present.

Monuments

In the chancel is a tomb to Bartholomew Armyne of Osgodby, died 1605. This comprises an altar table on six stubby Ionic piers decorated with armorial elements and a frieze of heraldic shields below. On the table stand three fluted composite columns with leafy bases, supporting a cornice and smaller columns which support a full entablature with two triangular pediments. Four inscribed panels, set between the main columns, are bordered with egg and dart ornament. A stone tablet with eared and shouldered edges and a death's head mask in a circle on top commemorates Jane Chaworth, died 1606. A plain slate tablet marks the death of Mary Blomer in 1759. A plain marble tablet with pediment commemorates Francis Hetherington, died 1768.