Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter, Wolverhampton

This is a major medieval church of cruciform plan with substantial later additions and restorations. The building combines work from several periods: the crossing and south transept date from the late 13th century, while the nave, tower and north transept were rebuilt in the late 15th century. The chancel and a comprehensive restoration were undertaken between 1852 and 1865 by the architect E. Christian. The church is constructed in ashlar with lead roofs.

The plan comprises a four-bay apsed chancel, crossing tower, and six-bay aisled nave, with a two-storey south porch and two-storey vestry to the north.

The chancel and seven-bay apse are articulated in Decorated style by offset buttresses with crocketed gables and gargoyles set below an openwork parapet. The windows comprise two-light openings to the apse and three-light windows with flowing tracery to the chancel. The three-stage tower has a north-east stair turret, panels with quinquefoil heads, quatrefoil friezes, and an embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles; the second stage has two-light windows while the top stage contains paired two-light bell openings.

The north transept features offset buttresses, an embattled parapet, and 17th-century round-headed windows to the north and east with large central mullions. The south transept has angle buttresses and an embattled parapet, a five-light east window, and a three-light south window. Above these are three two-light square-headed clerestory windows to the east and two to the west, all with Perpendicular tracery.

The north aisle has three-light windows with segmental-pointed heads and Perpendicular tracery between buttresses, with an embattled parapet. The south aisle is similar but with four-light windows. The vestry has an embattled parapet and varied square-headed windows of one, two or three lights. The two-storey porch has angle buttresses and a panelled embattled parapet with pinnacles; the entrance features a moulded arch with a sundial above, and there is a two-light square-headed window to the first floor.

The west façade has an entrance of two orders beneath a crocketed ogee hood with enriched cornice, and a four-light Decorated window also under a crocketed ogee hood. Panelled buttresses flank the gabled aisles, which have a three-light window to the north and four-light window to the south. The clerestory is lit by paired Perpendicular two-light square-headed transomed windows and has a panelled embattled parapet.

Interior

The apse has a vaulted ceiling with angel and square foliate capitals to the shafts and angels to the cornice. The chancel features a hammer-beam roof with angel corbels and angels to the brattished cornice. The crossing retains 17th-century beams supporting a late 19th-century painted ceiling. The transepts have late 15th-century moulded tie-beam roofs. The nave has five-bay Perpendicular arcades on octagonal piers and a 15th-century roof with carved spandrels to moulded tie beams and a panelled ceiling with bosses.

The chancel stalls have traceried fronts and angel finials. The crossing displays a 19th-century timber screen to the north, while the southern screen dates to the 15th century and features open tracery with 15th-century shafts supporting a brattished cornice. The north transept has a 19th-century Decorated style screen. The south transept screen has 15th-century shafts and blind tracery panels below open-work upper panels, with a 19th-century brattished cornice.

The nave contains a 15th-century panelled stone pulpit on a shaft, with a stair winding round a pier and a parapet featuring a crouching lion at the foot. A late 17th-century west gallery survives, though much altered. A late 19th-century two-stage internal timber porch in Decorated style features openwork tracery and figures beneath crocketed canopies. Some of the 15th-century stalls came from Lilleshall Abbey.

The church contains several significant monuments. In the north transept is a chest tomb to Thomas Lane (died 1582) with carved balusters, figures and armorial bearings to the sides, and two finely carved recumbent effigies. A wall monument to John Lane (died 1667), a distinguished soldier instrumental in the rescue of Charles II, is executed in marble and alabaster with an inscribed panel in an Ionic aedicule, garlanded scrolls and a heraldic cartouche in a swan-necked pediment flanked by cannon. The projecting base displays a finely carved trophy of arms with a crown in an oak tree to the left.

The south transept contains a bronze figure and cherubs from a monument to Admiral Leveson (circa 1635), created by Le Seur, and a chest tomb to John Leveson (died 1575) and his wife with spiral corner balusters, figures and armorial shields to the sides, and finely carved recumbent effigies. The north aisle has a wall tablet to Henry Bracegirdle (died 1702) with an inscribed panel in a Doric aedicule, a painted board to William Walker (died 1634), and various 19th and early 20th-century wall tablets including one to George Thorneycroft (died 1851) and a South African war memorial. The church contains stained glass by C. E. Kempe to the south aisle and a fine east window to the south transept.