Church of Saint Peter and All Saints is a Grade I listed building in the Central Bedfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 23 January 1961. A Medieval Church.

Church of Saint Peter and All Saints

WRENN ID
gentle-brick-sepia
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Central Bedfordshire
Constituency
Mid Bedfordshire MP: Blake Stephenson (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
23 January 1961
Type
Church
Period
Medieval
Address
Church of Saint Peter and All Saints, Battlesden
OS grid reference
SP 959 290
Coordinates
51.9521, -0.60589
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of Saint Peter and All Saints is a Grade I listed parish church with origins dating back to the 13th century, with significant alterations made in the 14th and 15th centuries, and additional details from the 16th and 17th centuries. The church is constructed from a mix of ironstone rubble, coursed in parts, clunch blocks, and brick repairs, featuring ashlar dressings and clay tile roofs. It comprises a chancel, nave, north porch, and southwest tower.

The chancel has 14th-century origins and includes a 19th-century three-light east window. The south elevation features two 16th-century square-headed two-light windows and a small four-centred arched doorway, topped with a plain stone-coped parapet. The chancel arch is pointed and dates from the 14th century.

The nave has late 13th-century origins, with its north elevation showcasing a 13th-century lancet window to the west, a 15th-century two-light square-headed window, and a 17th-century three-light square-headed window with a transom. There is a 14th-century doorway, while the south elevation includes a 13th-century two-light window to the west, a high 16th-century square-headed two-light window that formerly lit a gallery, and a 15th-century two-light square-headed window. A blocked 14th-century pointed arched doorway can also be found here, along with a brick embattled parapet with stone coping.

The north porch is very plain, gabled, and of late date. The tower, added in the 15th century, is located at the southwest angle of the nave and features a variety of buttresses, two stages, and pointed archways on the east and north sides leading into the nave. The west doorway is now blocked by a red brick buttress, and there are square-headed two-light windows on all sides of the bell stage, topped with a plain brick parapet and stone coping.

Inside, the nave contains a blocked rood staircase at the southeast angle and a squint into the chancel on the north side of the chancel arch. The nave features a 15th-century moulded roof, while the chancel roof is from the 19th century. A circular font from the 12th century showcases four different pieces of foliate carving. There are marble wall monuments in the nave, including one to William Duncombe, who died in 1603, featuring armorial shields, an inscribed tablet, and a scroll pediment with putti and an achievement of arms. Another monument is dedicated to Lady Elizabeth Duncombe, likely from the later 17th century, with a cartouche in an ornate surround and 19th-century putti at the base. A simpler monument to Sir John Duncombe, who died in 1687, includes an inscribed tablet and a fluted cornice.

Local climate

Church of Saint Peter and All Saints sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 84% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 84% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 54% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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