Church Of St Peter And St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul

This is a parish church of significant architectural importance, dating from the 13th to 16th centuries, with important later restorations. The chancel was rebuilt in 1824, and the church underwent restoration by Hodgson Fowler in 1896, with further restoration in 1927. The structure is built of ashlar and dressed stone with ashlar dressings, beneath slate and lead roofs. The church features a west tower, nave, chancel, north chancel chapel, and south porch.

The west tower, built around 1480, stands in two stages and is distinguished by a string course, an eaves band with remains of gargoyles, and a crenellated parapet. It has two corner buttresses with three setoffs. The western face displays a 19th-century cusped-head triple lancet window with panel tracery and splayed reveal with hood mould. The second stage contains four double lancet bell openings with cusped trefoil heads.

The nave comprises two bays and displays a string course, moulded coped parapet, and coped gable with cross. The north side has two buttresses. The east end shows two 15th-century triple lancets with cusped heads, set in cove-moulded reveals with four-centred arched heads; the western example has a hood mould. A blocked recessed doorway with hood mould appears to the west. The south side has two similar windows.

The chancel consists of two bays with string course, moulded coped parapet, and coped gable with cross. Its east end features a quintuple lancet with cusped trefoil heads in a reveal with four-centred arched head. The south side displays two similar triple lancets. A rainwater head dated 1824 marks this phase of work.

The north chancel chapel comprises two bays with string course and moulded coped parapet. Its west end has a four-centred arched doorway. The north side features a central double lancet with cusped trefoil heads in a four-centred arched reveal. The east end displays a cusped ogee-head double lancet in a square-headed, chamfered and rebated reveal.

The south porch, a single bay built in the 20th century, has timber framing on an ashlar plinth. It contains a pair of 20th-century half-glazed doors with leaded lights and six leaded lights on each side, and retains interior stone benches beneath a low-pitched roof.

The 16th-century south doorway features a Tudor arch with deep cove and roll mouldings, rebate with broach stops, and a coved hood mould with remains of mask stops. The nave's north side contains a 13th-century stoup reset in a blocked doorway. The nave roof is a 19th-century queen post design with corbels carrying curved brackets to tie beams.

The tower arch is 13th-century, chamfered and rebated without imposts, spanned by a reset moulded and crested bressummer with central cross. The tower chamber contains a dog-leg stair constructed of cleft trunks with pegged treads.

The chancel arch is a 19th-century work in 13th-century style, with double chamfered and rebated moulding and moulded octagonal imposts. The chancel's north side features a two-bay 19th-century arcade with irregular octagonal pier, moulded arches, and a 20th-century traceried panelled timber screen. The chancel roof displays four-centred arch braces to tie beams, pierced spandrels, responds on octagonal corbels, moulded timbers, and foliate bosses.

The north chancel chapel retains a reset keeled respond and capital to the east, and to its right a reset 13th-century niche head. It has a lean-to roof with moulded tie beams and struts to principal rafters.

Interior fittings of considerable interest include ten 15th-century reused bench ends with traceried panels and fleur-de-lys finials, with other benches being 20th-century copies. Traceried panelled stalls with fleur-de-lys ends are present. A 17th-century side table with turned legs and chip carving and a similar four-legged stool of the same period are recorded. A 19th-century gradine incorporates portions of 17th-century chip carving. The timber pulpit dates to 1603 and features round-headed arcaded panels, reeded pilasters, pulvinated friezes, and strapwork. A 12th-century tub font with cover is present. Two benefaction boards dated 1816 are displayed.

Monuments include a merchant's mark and brass to Edmund Cartwright dated 1441, and a brass dated 1941. A fragment of capital with naturalistic foliage survives.