Church Of St Peter

Church of St. Peter, Great Totham

Parish church with chancel and nave dating to the 13th or 14th century. The 19th century saw substantial additions: a north aisle, vestry and organ chamber, south vestry and porch. The bell-turret was also rebuilt in the 19th century, along with various restorations. The church was listed as a group value in the II* grade.

The walls are constructed of flint rubble, puddingstone, freestone and oolite. The roofs are covered in red plain tiles with terracotta finials. The spire is clad in shingles.

The chancel's east wall features red brick angle buttresses and a 3-light window with circular tracery under a 2-centred arched head. Both the south and east walls contain lancet windows of unknown date. The east wall of the north vestry, a 19th-century structure, has 2 pierced lancets with pointed quatrefoils above. A band runs to the gable with a niche and statue positioned above. A flint buttress rises at the north angle, extending along the north wall of the vestry and north aisle. To the east stands a cusped trefoil single-light window in a 2-centred arched head. A 2-centred arched doorway with a vertically boarded door is present, its label extending from the east buttress. Additional buttresses exist to the west of this vestry/organ chamber door and at the western angle of the wall. The north aisle features three 2-light windows, with one similar window to the west wall as the east wall.

The nave's 14th-century west window displays 2 cinquefoiled ogee lights with tracery in a square head, with a herringbone tile panel above. The bell turret features a lower vertical slit and 2-light upper louvre, with much puddingstone visible in this wall. The south wall has a 19th-century gabled porch of flint and timber frame with brick nogging and single lights to the returns. Carved spandrels decorate the ogee archway, with buttresses positioned to the right and left of the porch. East of the porch is a 14th-century window of 2 ogee lights with a quatrefoil in a 2-centred head. The easternmost window, restored from the 16th century, displays 3 lights with vertical tracery and crenellated transoms beneath a 3-centred head. A vertically boarded south door sits under a moulded 2-centred arch. A 19th-century south chapel, sometimes known as the De Crespigny Chapel, features an angle buttress, a 2-light window in a 2-centred arch, a 2-centred arched doorway and a circular window to the gable.

Interior

The chancel retains a 15th-century boarded 7-cant roof with bosses, all bearing 20th-century painting. A 15th-century moulded wall plate is present. The east window contains stained glass from circa 1881. A carved and panelled reredos dates to circa 1949. The floor features Victorian patterned tiles. A 14th-century restored piscina with a 2-centred head and octofoil drain survives. A brass commemorates Elizabeth (Pilborough), wife of Richard Coke (1606) and their daughter Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Wilde. The brass depicts 2 women in ruffs and farthingales with 3 shields of arms; a rubbing is attached to the north wall as the brass itself is no longer visible. A 19th-century doorway with a trefoil head under a 2-centred arch leads into the De Crespigny south chapel, which contains 19th and 20th-century wall monuments to this family. A 2-centred arch with moulded bases and capitals to shafts opens into the organ chamber on the north wall. A plain stone slab piscina sits below the south-east window. No chancel arch exists; instead, a tie beam with moulded brackets and wall plates spans the opening. Embedded in the nave's south wall west of this tie beam is a 15th-century fragment of the former moulded rood beam and part of the rail. Another piscina, 14th-century with a 2-centred head and square drain, is present. A semi-circular carved wooden pulpit on a stone base dates to the 19th or 20th century. The nave roof is a 7-cant structure with moulded tie beams and wall plates. The north-east corner retains 3 plastered and painted infill panels, said to be remains of 3 winged figures. Sixteenth-century stained glass quarries with flowers and foliage ornament the south windows. The north arcade, a 19th-century addition, consists of 3 bays with chamfered and moulded 2-centred arches and moulded bases and capitals to shafts. The restored timber bell turret features moulded tie beams, arched braces and wall plates, with original traceried 2-cinquefoiled lights to each face. The organ was beautified in 1893 and is painted. A 19th or 20th-century font has a circular bowl with inscribed rim, mounted on 4 shafts with moulded capitals and bases and a square centre column, topped with a spiral wrought iron cover. A painting on the south wall depicts "The Adoration of the Magi".

Reverend Eyre, who came from Coggeshall, Essex, arrived at the church in the late 19th century. The Honeywood family of Marks Hall, Coggeshall, donated £2,500 towards the restoration of the church.