Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter, Wootton Wawen

Church. The building dates from 1035–40, when it was built for Wagen. The lower tower and parts of the lower nave north and west walls survive from this Saxon period. The church was enlarged in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, with parts of these walls remaining in the nave and chancel. A 13th-century south aisle and south doorway were added, followed by a 14th-century Lady Chapel and chancel north windows. The late 15th century saw the addition of a clerestory, the upper stage of the tower, a north doorway and an east window. An early 16th-century north porch was built, and the chancel was enlarged in the early 17th century with a new chancel roof. South aisle windows were inserted around 1635 in a 16th-century style. An 18th-century south porch was added. The church underwent restoration in 1880–81 by G. G. Scott Jr., with further 20th-century restorations.

The church is constructed of lias stone with plain-tile roofs and displays architectural styles spanning Saxon, Norman, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods.

The plan comprises a three-bay nave with a four-bay south aisle and four-bay clerestory, with north and south porches. There is a three-stage crossing tower to the north-east of the nave, a two-bay chancel, a south Lady Chapel and a vestry.

Exterior features include a massive buttress with off-sets to the west end; buttresses to the south aisle; and three buttresses with off-sets and angle buttresses to the Lady Chapel. The tower's north side has two short buttresses, while the chancel's north side has two large buttresses with off-sets. The chancel east end has angle buttresses and a further short buttress below the window.

The nave's south aisle has a porch to the second bay with a chamfered frieze surmounted by a bressumer beam and king post gable end, containing seats. The south doorway has a four-centred arch with four chamfers and a hoodmould with remains of open dogtooth moulding and double plank doors.

The south aisle's first bay is blank. It contains two four-light straight-headed windows with cusped lancets and stylised foliage between, with chamfered mullions and surrounds and a continuous hollow-moulded hoodmould. A further two-cusped-light lancet window with Y-tracery in a pointed double-chamfered surround is at the west end of the aisle. The battlements have finials with pinnacles rising from pilaster strips with grotesque bosses.

The north aisle shows some herringbone masonry. A porch to the first bay has buttresses, with the upper part being a pegged oak timber gable with a chamfered obtuse-arched opening. Within is a north doorway with a four-centred arch with two orders of roll-moulding between cavetto-moulding, and a nail-studded plank door with a wrought-iron ring handle with trefoil-patterned escutcheon. A small round-arched lancet window has quoined jambs and imposts. A four-light pointed window with renewed intersecting tracery in a chamfered surround with ovolo-moulded mullions, quoins and hoodmould is present. A continuous chamfered band with gargoyles runs along the wall.

The clerestory on both north and south sides has four three-light Perpendicular windows in four-centred arches with double-chamfered, hollow-moulded surrounds and hollow-chamfered mullions. The hoodmoulds have grotesque finials and stops, with pilasters between displaying grotesque beasts, surmounted by pinnacles with finials. Battlements complete the clerestory.

The west end has a central entrance, now blocked, with a quoined surround and massive lintel. A five-light Perpendicular window in a two-centred arch has a chamfered surround, sill and hoodmould with worn face stops.

The tower has long and short quoins. The north side has a round-arched opening, now blocked, with a semi-circular window to the head. The second stage has a slit and band, then pairs of two-light Perpendicular belfry windows with a central headstop, a band, and battlements with pinnacles and finials.

The Lady Chapel has two three-light windows with reticulated tracery to the head, with the easternmost blocked to the inside by a monument. The east end has a window of five stepped ogee-headed lights with Curvilinear tracery to the head.

The chancel's north side has two three-light windows with reticulated tracery to the head, with chamfered mullions and surround and hoodmould with face stops. The east window has seven lights with Perpendicular tracery to the head in a double-chamfered surround with an outer order of foliage, hoodmould with foliate decoration and a chamfered sill. A band and low parapet complete the chancel.

Interior: The nave has a three-bay arcade with double-chamfered pointed four-centred arches. The central arch is taller and wider on octagonal responds with hollow-moulded capitals, while the outer responds are half-columnar with roll-moulded capitals and water-holding bases. A continuous hoodmould with a face-stop to the centre runs across the arcade. A scratch dial appears on the westernmost window of the south aisle. An outline of a round-arched north doorway is visible on the north wall, with deep splayed jambs to a slit window. The west wall has a blocked doorway with quoins between two fluted columns on plinths with a continuous frieze and dentil cornice across the wall. Large busts reputedly of King Edward III and Queen Philippa serve as hoodmould stops to the west window, which contains stained glass of 1905. A continuous hollow-moulded band with grotesques and hoodmoulds runs at clerestory level. At the east end of the nave are two mid-15th-century parclose screens, one across the tower opening with an ogee-headed arch; these once enclosed side chapels and now have choir stalls and an organ console. A Perpendicular oak pulpit with leaf-traceried panels is present, along with a 18th-century balustrade. An octagonal 14th-century font has eight protruding hooded stone heads on the underside.

The tower contains a small northern blocked round-headed porticus arch, another similar arch to the south now with glass doors, a narrow high eastern archway, and a western higher wider arch. All are round-headed with jambs of long- and short-megalithic through stones, with arches resting on crude square capitals. The first stage has a blocked rectangular opening.

The Lady Chapel has a four-centred double-chamfered arch between the south aisle and chapel on half-columnar responds, and a similar arch to the north wall over the Norman tower arch. A 14th-century rib-vaulted piscina in an ornate surround is unfinished. The floor is of Elizabethan brick, and a 17th-century three-bay king-post roof is present. Between the Lady Chapel and chancel is a double-chamfered arcade with half-columnar responds and an octagonal centre pillar.

The chancel has altar rails with pierced splat balusters. Stained glass to the east window dates from the 14th and 17th centuries. An arch of a sedilia is present, with small wooden doors concealing a carved 15th-century hagioscope. Sixteenth-century pews have carved bench ends with stunted poppy heads and coarse tracery, restored in the 19th century. The roof's easternmost crossbeam is inscribed 'CS 1635', though the roof was restored in 1949.

Monuments: In the chancel are two tomb chests. One has a recumbent alabaster effigy to John Harewell (died 1428). The other, with quatrefoil decoration, also to John Harewell (died 1505), has a dark marble top with brasses of John and his wife Anna, with ten children shown below.

In the Lady Chapel is a 17th-century Renaissance-style canopied altar tomb in painted marble erected in 1626, with Ionic columns to each side and a recumbent effigy of Francis Smith (died 1605), Lord of the Manor of Wootton, and his wife Agnes (died 1562). A monument to Robert Knight (died 1744) is a free-standing urn on a pedestal. A wall monument to William Somerville of Edstone (died 1676) and his daughters Catherina (died 1736) and Margaretta (died 1739) was erected in 1765. An architectural-type wall monument commemorates Henry Knight (died 1762), Henrietta Knight (died 1763) and Henrietta St. John, Lady Luxemborough (died 1756). A Gothic Revival wall monument to John Phillips of Edstone (died 1836) is signed by John Ternmouth, Pimlico.

All listed items in the churchyard form a good group with the church.