Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

This parish church, now vested in the redundant churches fund, stands on the north side of Main Street at Osgodby near Kingerby. It dates from the early 11th century through to the early 17th century, with minor repairs made in the 19th century. The building is constructed of squared and coursed ironstone rubble with some brick patching and plastered areas, and is roofed with lead and pantile.

The church comprises a western tower, nave with clerestorey, south aisle and porch, and chancel. The 13th-century tower rises in three tapering stages and is topped by a slightly overhanging lead roof. The base is supported by corner buttresses to the first stage only. The second stage has a single light on the south side with a flat head, and all faces display paired 13th-century belfry lights with pointed, almost triangular heads. The west side features a trefoil-headed light with pointed arch to the first stage. Above the nave roof on the east side, the tower exposes the earlier, steeper roof pitch of the nave, cut by a 13th-century string course. This is likely evidence of the original 11th-century Anglo-Saxon nave roof pitch, corroborated by other features within the church. The tower has two roughly cut string courses marking its stages.

The nave, chancel and aisle have pantile roofs. The north side of the nave has three massive buttresses, the end ones possibly remnants of a demolished north aisle. A blocked arcade of this former north aisle is visible, with a reused 14th-century 3-light window featuring reticulated tracery filling the eastern blocking. The northern clerestorey is blank.

The chancel is constructed of poor-quality ironstone rubble and appears to have been slightly lengthened at its east end. The east window is a 14th-century 2-light with curvilinear tracery, flanked by carved heads, one with tiny arms and hands. The chancel is considerably lower than the nave, and the earlier roof pitch of the chancel is visible in the east end of the nave, which is partly plastered. On the south side are a plain rectangular 17th-century altar window, a narrow early 13th-century lancet at high level, and a small 17th-century single light at low level. The south clerestorey is partly plastered and contains a pair of 2-light early 17th-century windows with reveals, heads and mullions in brick.

The south aisle is more regularly coursed ironstone. Its 2-light south window is 14th-century with Y tracery, restored in timber. The west window is also 14th-century, 2-light, restored in the 19th century. The south porch has side stone benches and its doorway remains in situ, though the arch above has been reset. The porch doorway dates to the early 13th century and features 3/4 engaged shafts with dog tooth moulding to the reveals, annular capitals, and imposts decorated with nail head ornament. The south doorway itself is 12th-century with plain imposts and a semi-circular head. The door retains its ironwork straps and hinges of similar date.

Internally, the 13th-century 2-bay south arcade has an octagonal pier and responds with double chamfered arches and plain capitals, though the eastern respond displays nail head decoration. The blocked north arcade is barely visible, with its eastern respond, partly exposed, appearing contemporary with the south arcade. The 14th-century tower opening is ogee-headed, with a step up from the nave to the tower. Within the tower, a clear butt joint marks where the tower was built against the pre-existing nave west wall. The ladder to the tower chamber dates to the 16th century.

The 13th-century chancel arch has 3/4 engaged circular shafts with capitals decorated in nail head style. The nave roof is a remarkable early 17th-century king-post roof of fine quality, featuring four arch-braced moulded tie beams. The western tie beam is decorated with a carved heart, while the two central beams have circular rosettes on their undersides. The purlins and principal rafters are also moulded, with carved corner pieces featuring scalloped edges at their junctions. The aisle roof dates to the 18th century. At the west end of the nave at high level, behind the roof tie beam, lies a deeply splayed circular opening of early 11th-century date, likely the original west light of the Saxon church.

The east aisle window contains 14th-century stained glass depicting the Crucifixion, St. Catherine at her wheel, and St. Cecilia with her organ. The west aisle window holds stained glass of 1850. The 19th-century fittings and pulpit are later additions, but the chancel prayer desk dates to the 15th century with traceried panels decorating its ends. An alms box, carved from a single piece of wood, bears the inscription "This is Gods Treasury, Cast One Mite into it, 1639". The font is plain and octagonal, 15th-century, with a wooden bell-canted cover topped by a cross.

The chancel contains a coffin-shaped flat slab of a bearded 14th-century knight, said to be of the Disney family, carved in low relief and placed under an ogee gable. Only the upper portion of the figure is visible, with shoes protruding from an ogee-headed recess forming the base of a cross separating feet and torso. The slab bears the family arms. Three early 19th-century marble tablets to the Youngs of Kingerby Hall also occupy the chancel. At the west corner of the south aisle stand two further monuments. On the west side is a mid 13th-century cross-legged knight with puppies at his pillow, wearing a large shield and chain mail surcoat. The second monument on the south side, partially truncated, is late 14th-century, showing a knight in prayer with feet on a dog, dressed in finely carved heraldic surcoat and chain mail. Both figures rest on 14th-century tomb chests decorated with shields in quatrefoils.