Church Of St Peter And St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul

This is a parish church of 11th to 16th-century date, substantially restored and re-roofed in 1878 when an organ chamber was also built. The building is constructed of coursed and coursed squared rubble with dressed stone and ashlar dressings, and is roofed with gabled and lean-to slate. The church has moulded parapets and coped gables with crosses, and a chamfered plinth throughout.

The west tower dates from the 11th and 14th centuries and rises in three stages. It has clasping and corner buttresses of varying sizes, some gabled, with a string course and moulded crenellated parapet. Two gargoyles and four crocketed pinnacles crown the tower. The first stage contains a restored 11th-century round-headed door with imposts to the west and a restored round-headed window above. To the south is an additional buttress with two setoffs. The second stage has a round-headed window to the south and two stair lights, above which is a clock dated 1844 facing south and east. The third stage has four 14th-century double lancet bell openings with cusped heads.

The nave has a clerestorey with moulded bands and three gargoyles on each side, and three restored late 14th-century triple lancets with cusped heads, square reveals and hood moulds. The north side has three similar double lancets.

The north aisle dates from the 14th century and has chamfered eaves and a moulded parapet. It is buttressed with a diagonal buttress to the east, a corner buttress to the west, and an intermediate buttress to the north, with two setoffs. On the east side is an ogee-headed triple lancet with a square-headed reveal. To the west is a blocked round-headed door flanked by two similar 14th-century double lancets.

The organ chamber has a moulded plinth, eaves and sill band, with a cusped trefoil-headed lancet to the east and a pair of similar lancets to the north.

The chancel has moulded eaves and parapet with two gargoyles on each side. Paired corner buttresses with three setoffs defend the east end. The north side has a blocked late 14th-century window with four-centred arched head and hood mould. The east end contains a 6-light lancet with cusped heads, panel tracery and hood mould, with a sill band below. The south side has an off-centre buttress with two setoffs, and an off-centre blocked 14th-century priest's door. To its left is a late 14th-century triple lancet with cusped heads, four-centred arch reveal and hood mould. To its right is a truncated 13th-century triple lancet with cusped heads, trefoils and hood mould with mask stops.

The vestry dates from around 1500 and occupies two bays. It has a chamfered and moulded plinth, eaves band and crenellated parapet with remains of two gargoyles. Three buttresses with two setoffs defend the exterior; the central buttress bears an incised sundial. The windows are single lancets with cusped heads, square-headed reveals and hood moulds, one with mask stops. The east end has a single lancet and above it an ogee-headed niche in the parapet. The south side has two lancets, and the west end has a door with four-centred arched head and hood mould.

The south aisle comprises three bays of 13th-century date with a sill band and moulded eaves. Three corner buttresses plus an intermediate buttress with two setoffs defend the east end. The east end contains a restored 13th-century triple lancet with cusped trefoil heads, hood mould and three mask stops. The south side has two double lancets of 1878. The west end has a 15th-century triple lancet with cusped ogee heads and hood mould.

The south porch dates from the 13th century and was restored in the 19th century. It has moulded eaves, two coped gables (one with a cross), and two flanking buttresses. The south doorway is double moulded and rebated with shaft responds having water-holding bases and waterleaf capitals. The interior contains stone benches and a scissor-braced roof. The restored 13th-century inner doorway is cove and roll moulded with hood mould and mask stops, with single shafts having water-holding bases and capitals with nail-head bands.

The interior contains important medieval arcading. The nave south arcade dates from the 13th century and comprises three bays with two piers and matching responds, each square with four engaged filleted shafts. These have water-holding bases and integral round seats. Moulded quatrefoil capitals support double-chamfered and rebated arches with hood moulds. The north arcade dates from the 14th century and has three bays with two octagonal piers and an east respond, all with square plinths, water-holding bases and octagonal capitals. The west respond has a moulded base and capital and a keeled shaft. The arches are double-chamfered and rebated with hood moulds.

The nave roof is of 15th-century style with moulded timbers and arch braces on corbels, decorated with two mask and two foliate bosses. The tower arch is 11th-century, with a moulded round head featuring two rows of large zigzag moulding. The responds are cable-moulded with round heads, square imposts and moulded scrolled capitals, with roll-moulded flanking shafts with reel moulding.

The chancel arch is late 14th-century and was restored in 1878. It is double-chamfered and rebated with octagonal responds with crenellated capitals. On the north side of the chancel to the west is an arched opening containing an organ in a Gothic case of 1892. The east window contains stained glass by Shrigley and Hunt dedicated to Richard Fitzherbert, 1906. On the south side to the east is a combined sedilia and piscina of late 14th-century date, comprising four ogee-headed openings within a square-headed opening with hood mould and mask stops. An 11th-century priest's door lies to its right, and a window with stained glass of 1919 is to the west. The chancel roof is restored 15th-century work with arch braces on angel corbels, arched tie beams and four carved bosses.

The vestry contains fragments of 16th-century stained glass in all three windows and has a 19th-century lean-to roof.

A Baroque-style oak screen dates from 1930. The north aisle has an unglazed 14th-century double lancet to the east, flanked to the right by a 14th-century moulded bracket, with a lean-to roof of 1878. The south aisle has a similar roof of 1878. A window in the south aisle contains stained glass of 1933. The west end contains a window with stained glass bearing the Arms of Samuel Hallifax, dated 1781.

Interior fittings include an octagonal 19th-century font, a traceried pulpit with marble shafts of the 19th century, a traceried and panelled octagonal font of the 19th century in 14th-century style, and moulded late 19th-century oak benches. An oak reredos in 15th-century style dates from 1913.

The church contains numerous memorials spanning several centuries. These include a scrolled and draped cartouche to John Roileston of 1684, brasses to Henricus Lukin (1630), George Fothergill (1633) and Oliverus Dand (1655), six brasses to members of the Wylde family dating from 1694 to 1801, five brasses of the 18th century, four of the 19th century, and eight of the 20th century. There is also a marble tablet to Samuel Hallifax, Bishop of St Asaph, dated 1790, and a timber and brass war memorial.