Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

A parish church located on the north side of Church Hill in Kinver, the building is primarily from the early 14th century and incorporates some 12th-century fragments from an earlier church. Substantial extensions were added in the mid-15th century, and the building underwent restoration in 1884-5 by G. G. and J. O. Scott. The north aisle was rebuilt in 1976. The church is constructed of dressed stone blocks with plain tile roofs displaying coped verges.

The building comprises a west tower with diagonal buttresses, a four-bay nave with side aisles and a south porch, and a two-bay aisled chancel.

The west tower dates from the mid-14th century. It displays four stages marked by moulded strings and a crenellated parapet. The pointed west door features two chamfered orders with a returned hoodmould. Above this is a pointed three-light window with reticulated tracery and a hoodmould. On the north and south sides of the third stage are trefoil-headed loops with sunken spandrels. Two-light pointed belfry openings with reticulated tracery are present. At the junction of the nave with the south aisle to the west stands a 12th-century pilaster buttress.

The north aisle was built in 1975-6 by John Greaves Smith of Kinver. Its bay division buttresses are flanked by tall loops, with horizontal strip windows at eaves level and a dormer with hipped roof to the left.

The south aisle dates from the early 14th century and was extended eastward by a single bay in the mid-15th century to form the Grey Chapel. Buttresses mark the bay divisions. Pointed 14th-century windows of three lights with Decorated tracery are present; the windows of the east bay feature Tudor arches and cinquefoil-headed lights. A door of circa 1856-7 on the south side of the east bay was restored in the 20th century. The gabled south porch dates from circa 1380 with a 20th-century eastern extension. It has a four-centred arch opening with an inner chamfered order and an outer quarter-round moulded order. Inside, a pointed door to the south aisle displays two quarter-round moulded orders.

The chancel features a pointed east window of five cinquefoil-headed lights and panel tracery. In the angle between the Grey Chapel and the chancel is the entrance to a staircase that led to a vestry beneath the sanctuary, lit to the east by three rectangular windows at ground level.

The north chancel aisle, known as the Foley Chapel, was in existence by 1472 when its founder John Hampton was buried there. It has three windows to the north and one to the east, all of similar character to those of the eastern bay of the south aisle. A mid-19th-century door with a Tudor arch, partly blocking the central window, is positioned in the centre of the north side.

Interior

The south arcade dates from the 14th century, while the north arcade was built in 1856-7 by Thomas Smith of Stourbridge. Both feature octagonal columns with moulded capitals and pointed arches of two chamfered orders. The easternmost column of the south arcade carries the inscription "THO / PIXELL / WILL / BANNISTER / 1671 / CHUR WARDENS". A 14th-century pointed tower arch of three chamfered orders springs from engaged octagonal columns with moulded capitals. A high pointed arch of two chamfered orders springs from engaged octagonal columns.

Immediately north of the chancel are the remains of a newel staircase leading to a door with a semicircular arch, which probably communicated with a former rood loft. Over the nave is an early 14th-century common-rafter roof with double collars, the lower collars arch-braced. Over the south aisle is a collar-rafter roof with straight braces, dating from the 14th or 15th century. A 15th-century north chancel arcade displays four-centred arches of two hollow-chamfered orders springing from cylindrical columns with moulded caps and bases. The south arcade has pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing from octagonal columns with moulded capitals, dating from the 14th and 15th centuries and restored and strengthened to the south by massive 19th-century brick arches. A 15th-century arch-braced collar-rafter roof of four-centred section covers the chancel. A 15th-century panelled roof of four-centred section covers the north chancel aisle. Fourteenth-century sedilia and piscina with ogee arches are at the east end of the 14th-century south aisle.

Fittings include a late 14th-century stone font with elaborate tracery patterns. A hexagonal oak pulpit with balustraded steps is dated 1623 but was heavily restored in 1903. A late-17th-century oak communion rail features richly carved balusters. A panelled oak reredos with fluted Ionic pilasters and panelled side walls to the sanctuary is present. An organ from 1901 occupies the south aisle.

Monuments are distributed throughout the church. In the Grey Chapel is a chest tomb of Sir Edward Grey (died 1528) with incised brasses of Sir Edward, his wife and children. A large tablet to William Talbot (died 1686) features a segmental pediment capped by an urn. A tablet to Dorothy and Edward Hillman (died 1722 and 1727) has a broken semi-circular pediment. The Foley Chapel contains a mutilated 15th-century recumbent effigy of a knight reputed to be John Hampton (died 1472), the chapel's founder, and an architectural tablet to John Hodgetts (died 1789) with two urns within an aedicule formed by two short thick unfluted Doric columns and a heavy pediment. In the chancel is a tablet to Eliza Crawshaw (died 1813) capped by an obelisk with palm tree motif. The nave contains a tablet to John and Ann Comber (died 1732 and 1751). The south aisle features a large First World War memorial incorporating a statue of St George.

Stained glass includes an east window of circa 1849 showing scenes from the life of Jesus, and two early 20th-century windows in the south aisle.