Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

Anglican church designed by Colin Shewring and erected in 1972.

The exterior is dominated by a hyperbolic paraboloid roof over the worship space, suspended from a concrete ring beam on top of a buff brick curtain wall. The roof is coated with a rubber-based material with metallic reflective coating and drains to a spout at its lowest point, which discharges into a freestanding brick tower. The south elevation features a small cantilevered tangential protrusion containing a dalle de verre window. In front of the curtain wall, a single-storey entrance block in dark brick with dark stained mortar contains the front door and a connecting wing to the church hall. The doors are vertical part-glazed doors with oversized sculpted furniture and a large decorative concrete lintel above. The entrance block has rooflights to the north of the worship space serving internal rooms. Windows are uPVC replacements, both in the entrance block and the main windows of the worship space. The building is constructed in brick with a timber roof.

The interior maintains the distinction between buff bricks of the worship space and dark bricks of the ancillary spaces. The main worship space comprises a large oval room with white roughcast walls and a matchboarded roof. The sanctuary, set forward from the south wall, places the altar as the focal point, with two rows of pews angled towards it and set on an incline for improved sightlines. The altar, cross, candlesticks and wardens' staves are original designs by Shewring, as is the aluminium hymn number display and wooden president's chair. The choir is positioned behind a low sinusoidal retaining wall of blue brick, beneath the organ pipes. The organ console was replaced in 2008, though the organ pipes are original. To the east of the sanctuary, a low blue brick wall surrounds the font, made of Jersey granite on a concrete plinth. The wall holds wooden benches, with the floor around the font finished in cobbles set in cement, surrounded by blue pavoirs. Behind the sanctuary stands the dalle de verre window, angled so it is not visible from the pews, with a small aumbrey in front.

The north wall contains both doors, two ranges of windows set high in the curtain wall, and a smoked glass window into the lobby. Outside the main worship space, a polygonal lobby affords access to other rooms and contains a book trolley and hymn book stand by Shewring. A small squint and adjacent lighting panel allow lights in the worship space to be controlled from the lobby. To the east is the lounge, separated from the lobby by a glass screen on top of a low gallery. A large metal sculpture entitled the Cross of Thorns by Gerry Blood hangs on the north wall. The north side of the lobby comprises five hexagonal rooms: the sacristy, office, choir office, kitchen and toilets. The sacristy, office and choir office have matchboarded and rendered internal walls. The sacristy contains a built-in sacristy credens. The kitchen and toilets contain modern fittings.

An attached link building was completed in 1978, and The Centre in 2012, both utilitarian in design and not included in the listing.