Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter, Kineton

A parish church with a complex building history spanning from the mid-13th century to the early 20th century. The west tower dates from the mid-13th to 15th century, while the remainder of the structure was rebuilt in 1775 by architect Sanderson Miller and substantially remodelled between 1877 and 1889 by John Belcher. An organ loft and vestry were added in 1897.

The church is constructed of ashlar, with coursed ironstone rubble and ashlar dressings to the tower, beneath slate roofs. The plan comprises a three-bay chancel with north organ loft and vestry, a three-bay nave with transepts and north aisle, and a west tower. The design features sill courses, moulded sills to north windows, offset and diagonal buttresses, top cornices and parapets with crocketed pinnacles, and windows with Perpendicular-style tracery.

The chancel displays a pierced quatrefoil parapet to the south and east (plain to the north) with a gable cross. The east window contains five lights with three relief shields above. The south side has three-light windows, while the north side has two similar windows, a tall gabled organ loft with a four-light north window, and a low gabled vestry to the east with a two-light traceried window and a late 20th-century addition to the north.

The nave features a crenellated parapet and gable cross with two three-light south windows. The transepts have three-light windows to north and south. The north aisle has a plain parapet and two three-light windows.

The four-stage tower is notable for its offset buttresses, string courses, top cornice with corbel table and angle gargoyles, and a traceried frieze. The crenellated parapet is open-traceried with eight crocketed pinnacles and a rich wrought-iron wind vane dated 17__. The west entrance comprises three orders with buried bases, a two-light traceried window above, and a small light to the third stage. A clock face and stair turret occupy the south side, with two-light traceried and louvred bell-openings to the top two stages.

Internally, the church features 19th-century roofs on corbelled arched braces. The chancel contains an entrance to the vestry with a battened door featuring a richly carved head. Double-cusped Gothic-style ashlar tablets for the Creed, Commandments, and Lord's Prayer stand to the north and south of the altar, alongside an 1805 ashlar charity board. The chancel arch has rich continuous moulding, with south and west arches leading to the organ loft. The nave features a three-bay north arcade with quatrefoil piers and a similar south transept arch. The tower arch contains panelled timber infill and paired doors, with a gallery above featuring cusped panels. The tower vault is pointed and tunnel-vaulted with transverse arches and heavy surrounds to pointed north and south entrances.

Fittings include a mid to late 17th-century altar table in the chancel, a reredos with canopy in similar style, a 19th-century organ case, and a 1905 chancel screen with linenfold panelling, tapering pilasters with scrolly heads, an architrave with enriched frieze, and open-work cresting with a cross. The nave contains a 19th-century octagonal font and timber pulpit with double-cusped panels. Painted 18th-century Creed and Commandment boards with marbled surrounds are displayed, as is a similar Lord's Prayer board in the north aisle with cherubs. The north aisle also displays painted Royal Arms dated 1724 and a small enclosure with a plank door and large iron grille.

Memorials include a late 14th-century recumbent effigy of a priest in the north transept window recess, and numerous 18th and 19th-century floor slabs and wall tablets. Notably, the chancel contains a white and coloured marble wall tablet to Charles and Sarah Bentley (died 1727 and 1725 respectively) and Diana (died 1743), featuring Ionic pilasters, side scrolls, a broken pediment with the Bentley Arms, and a lower panel with a foliate apron. An Edward Nicholas tablet (died 1745) displays side scrolls, a broken pediment with the Nicholas Arms, and an enriched apron. A good brass tablet to John Venour, surgeon (died 1722), is positioned to the left of the chancel arch with inscribed Venour Arms, and another brass tablet to Rachel Maides (died 1728) is set on the nave south wall.

The stained glass includes a good 19th-century east window, a chancel north window of 1898 with its lower part filled with copper repoussé panels, and other late 19th and early 20th-century glass in the chancel and transepts.