Church of St Peter

Church of St Peter

This is a parish church dating from the 13th century with extensions in the 14th century and restoration work undertaken in 1873 and 1874. The building is constructed of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings under a tile roof, with the tower featuring a shingled pyramidal roof. The plan comprises a west tower, nave, south chapel, chancel and north vestry.

The west tower dates from the early 13th century and has four stages. The belfry stage is timber-framed and shingled, probably from the 17th century, with vertically slatted openings. The tower has a battered plinth capped by a roll moulding and clasping corner buttresses. The ground stage contains a single-light semicircular-headed window in each wall, the first stage has a pointed lancet in each wall, and the second stage has similar windows. The nave is early 14th century and comprises three bays on the north wall, each with a central lancet flanked by two windows of two pointed lights under a two-centred head. The south wall has two lancets flanking a 19th-century south porch. The south door is probably 12th century, featuring a simple semicircular arch with chamfered label and chamfered jambs.

The late 14th-century south chapel projects at the east end of the nave and has a four-light window in each wall with ogee trefoiled lights, cusped spandrels and square heads. The gable contains an exposed timber truss with a cambered tie beam and a central strut to the collar. The chancel is also 14th century, comprising two bays with 19th-century lancets in the south wall and a priest's door between them. The north vestry is late 19th century. The east window contains three stepped pointed lights below a 19th-century rose window.

Inside, the 17th-century tower arch is segmental-pointed with two chamfered orders and responds each having an attached filleted shaft with a simple foliate capital. The arch to the south chapel is late 14th century with a two-centred profile of two chamfered orders, the outer continuous and the inner with moulded imposts and chamfered bases. A squint in the east respond is now blocked. The chancel arch is early 14th century with a two-centred profile of two moulded orders and a moulded label. The outer order displays ballflower ornament, and the moulded responds each have three engaged shafts—the north respond has a moulded and enriched capital, while the south respond capitals feature dogs' heads and a fleur-de-lys.

A piscina in the south wall of the chancel has a 14th-century cinquefoiled head with a projecting quatrefoil drain. A 14th-century piscina in the south wall of the nave has an ogee head, and a square-headed piscina is located in the south wall of the south chapel. The roofs of the nave and chancel are 19th-century common rafter type with straight braces to the collars. The south chapel roof is 14th century with three bays, arch-braced collar trusses and two tiers of purlins with cusped wind braces.

A 12th-century font stands under the tower, featuring a round bowl with a three-strand interlaced band, a short arcaded stem and a diapered plinth. The pulpit in the north-east corner of the nave is of semi-octagonal plan with two tiers of panels—the lower tier incised with rosettes and the upper arcaded—bearing a small shield dated 1633. Two wall monuments with broken pediments and urns in the south chapel commemorate Mathew Croose (died 1798) and Thomas Croose (died 1776).