Church Of Saint Peter

The Church of Saint Peter is a parish church with origins in the 12th century, significantly altered in the 14th and 15th centuries, and extensively reworked between 1841 and 1843 by L. N. Cottingham, with further work around 1875 by Henry Clutton. The tower is constructed of ashlar limestone; the remainder of the church is faced with pebbledash render over a mix of cobblestone, rubble, and brick. The roofs are largely clay tile, with some 20th-century replacements. The church comprises a chancel, nave, north and south transepts, a north-west tower, and a north porch.

The chancel dates back to the 12th century, with later modifications. Its east window is a 15th-century 3-light design, but re-worked; a small 12th-century round-headed single light is on the north elevation, while a similar window sits above a 15th-century pointed doorway on the south elevation. A further 2-light square-headed window is west of this doorway. The chancel arch, also 12th-century but re-worked in the 19th century, includes billet ornament and shafts with scalloped capitals on the west side. The nave, also of 12th-century origin, has two small round-headed windows on the south wall, a 4-light square-headed window on the west wall, and a 12th-century round-headed single light above it. A 15th-century pointed arched doorway is on the north side. The west gable is stone-coped in two stages, topped with a cross finial. The north and south transepts date from the earlier 19th century. The north transept features a 3-light square-headed north window above a pointed single light. The south transept has similar windows, the single light being blind. Both transepts are topped with cross finials.

The north-west tower, rebuilt between 1841 and 1843, is three-stage with buttresses. It has pointed-arched single lights on the two lower stages, the second-stage openings surmounted by blind oculi (the western one containing a clock face). The bell stage has paired pointed-arched lights on each side and a machicolated embattled parapet. Filling the space between the tower and the north transept is a late 19th-century porch with a pointed archway and a stone-coped gable.

Inside, the nave retains a steep-pitched 14th-century 4-bay roof, with carved male and female head brackets supporting the principal rafters. The chancel roof is 19th-century but retains 14th-century trusses. A 12th-century nook-shaft is visible on the south wall of the chancel, possibly a remnant of an apse arch. Also present is a 12th-century circular font with four pilasters, set on a 19th-century base. A 12th-century coffin lid, decorated with a carved cross and interlaced designs, is reset into the floor of the south transept. The north transept contains a white marble chest tomb with a recumbent effigy to Sir Hugh Inglis, dating from 1832 and created by Chantrey. The west window in the nave contains glass by Wailes, dated 1867, and celebrates the birth of Sir Joseph Paxton in the parish.