Church Of St Peter And Adjoining Wall

Church of St Peter and Adjoining Wall

Parish church with adjoining wall. The building dates to the 13th century but was substantially rebuilt around 1812 and again in 1908. It is constructed mainly in stucco with some red brick and ashlar, with slate and lead roofs. The nave roof is hipped to the east. The church stands on a chamfered ashlar plinth and is buttressed throughout, except for the vestry.

The building comprises a tower, nave, aisles, south vestry, south mausoleum and chancel. The north-west tower is a single stage structure built in ashlar with a single diagonal buttress to the north and stepped battlements. The west wall features a doorway with a deep stepped reveal and a 19th-century door. Above this, on the west, north and east sides are single openings each with two arched lights under a flat arch. The bell chamber has four triangular arched openings, each with two similarly arched lights.

To the right of the tower, set slightly back, is the red brick gabled west end of the nave with bands following the line of the gable. An arched doorway with a plank double door opens here, flanked by single casements with lozenge glazing bars. Above is a single triangular arched casement with decorative glazing bars.

The north aisle has two arched two-light windows with Y tracery. The clerestory features three two-light windows, with eaves decorated with a stepped band. The north chancel has two arched windows each with two arched lights. The east end displays a single arched three-light window with intersecting tracery. Diagonal buttresses terminate above the crow-stepped parapet in single obelisk finials.

The south chancel wall has a single arched window with two arched lights. An attached octagonal brick buttress rises here, transitioning to a rendered octagonal form and terminating in an obelisk finial. The east wall of the embattled mausoleum has a single round arched blind panel.

Attached to the left of the mausoleum is an embattled five-bay arcaded wall, originally a cloister, with chamfered arches divided by single buttresses that terminate in obelisk pinnacles. The right bay is now blocked, incorporated into the vestry, and has a single small glazing-bar casement. This wall is attached to Roclaveston Manor, which is listed separately.

The south wall of the vestry has a doorway with a plank door and a single glazing-bar casement to the left. The west wall has a single similar casement. The south wall of the aisle has two tall two-light windows. The west wall stands at an oblique angle and has a single small light. The clerestory on the south side corresponds to that on the north.

Interior

The interior contains restored three-bay 13th-century nave arcades with circular columns and responds, moulded capitals, double chamfered arches and hood moulds. The moulded tower arch is partly blocked and features a domestic chamfered arched doorway flanked by single fixed lights. Above is a gallery forming the squire's pew, which includes a fireplace.

A moulded chancel arch is supported on either side by single pilasters. The south chancel wall has a single blocked two-light window to the west.

To the east of the south aisle stands the Pendock Barry Mausoleum, built in 1812. The south aisle and mausoleum are separated by a chamfered arch with good decorative wrought iron screen and gateway. Three further chamfered arches have a glazed ceiling. Extending between the top of the outer two arches are small bands of five-bay blind arcading. Between the two central arches are single chamfered arched niches, each containing a single carved figure. Below are further single larger niches, each containing a single decorative memorial obelisk. The east wall bears a decorative memorial to Susanna Pendock Barry, who died in 1811 and for whom the mausoleum was built. The walls are further decorated with small shields. A doorway in the south wall provides access to the vestry.

The chancel contains an ashlar shaft piscina decorated with diaper work, the bowl carved with scrolls. Some 18th-century floor slabs survive in the chancel, and a single 17th-century floor slab remains in the south aisle. The remaining furniture is 19th century, including a wooden pulpit and two octagonal ashlar fonts. There are six hatchments. Under the gallery is an inner west porch with two rooms formed by panelled screens.