Church Of St Peter And St Paul (Church Of England)

Church of St Peter and St Paul

This is a parish church of outstanding interest, primarily for its exceptional collection of monuments. The building comprises a chancel, nave with north and south aisles, a southeast chapel, a south porch, and a west tower.

The core structure dates to the 15th century, built in coursed flint rubble with limestone dressings. The southeast chapel, south aisle, and south porch were added around 1819 by Jeffry Wyatt for the 7th Earl of Bridgewater, constructed in stucco with Portland stone dressings and crenellated parapets. In 1875–78, E.W. Godwin undertook a general restoration for Lord Brownlow, during which the chancel was extended slightly eastward, the north chancel aisle was rebuilt in uncoursed knapped flint with limestone dressings, and the south nave arcade was replaced (the previous single wooden arch having been inserted around 1810 by James Wyatt). At this time doorways were formed to the east ends of both aisles flanking a new chancel arch. In 1965–67, John Brandon Jones added vestries linked to the north door.

The exterior presents a small, isolated parish church with a chancel that protrudes and is flanked by a north chancel aisle and southeast chapel. The chancel's east end features four diagonal buttresses. The nave lacks a clerestory but has north and south aisles, with a gabled, parapeted south porch and a short square west tower capped by a blunt pyramidal roof. The tower has diagonal buttresses at its west angles. A single-storey linked vestry block of brick and flint with a hipped slate roof adjoins the building.

The chancel is at the same level as the nave. It contains a 15th-century three-light south window opening unglazed into the southeast chapel, a similar blocked window, and a four-centred arched south doorway between. Scrolled stone corbels formerly supported a lower roof than the present late 19th-century copy of the nave roof. A two-bay north arcade features octagonal columns with responds and hollow chamfered arches. Three coloured marble steps lead to the altar, which is lit by a three-light east window designed after Dürer by Burlinson and Grylls. A fresco on the wall (dating to 1896) copies a work by Gozzoli in the Palazzo Riccardi, Florence. An arcaded dado of saints was executed by C. Rew and Reverend Charlton Lane. The chancel floor is laid with glazed Maws and Minton tiles decorated with saints' symbols.

The north chancel aisle, formerly the Bridgewater pew, features a moulded timber roof copied from the north nave aisle, two two-light north windows, and a west window with stained glass of 1892 by Burlinson and Grylls. A large iron-bound 17th-century chest on a stand is preserved here. The aisle also contains 17th-century poppy-head bench ends and late 19th-century choir stalls.

The southeast chapel was formerly the Bridgewater mausoleum. It features a plaster ribbed vault with floral bosses by Francis Bernasconi (1817). Its south facade copies the former south wall of the chancel, with two three-light Perpendicular windows flanking a four-centred door, each with hoodmoulds. The chapel has no east window. Many black marble floor slabs line the interior, and the walls are lined with splendid sculptured monuments. The finest is at the east end: a monument to John Williams, 7th Earl of Bridgewater (died 1823), a Raphaelesque tondo by Westmacott depicting a labourer, his wife, child, and dog with tools and wheat-ears. Another monument commemorates Francis Henry, 8th Earl (died 1829), with a seated female figure resting her hand on a book inscribed "Works of the Creation", and a note at the base: "He bequeathed £8000 as a reward for literary men for writing essays to prove the benevolence of God as displayed in the Works of Creation". Elizabeth, Viscountess Brackley (died 1669), is commemorated with a draped veil and script lettering inscription. Henry Stanley (died 1670) has an epitaph flanked by two putti on a gadrooned base. A monument to Francis, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (died 1803), the pioneer of inland navigation, stands over a fireplace in the south wall—a placement dating from when the chapel served as a vestry until 1963.

The nave is a three-bay structure with a low-pitched timber roof featuring mouldings on ridges, purlins, and wallplates, with chamfered knee-braces to tie beams springing from carved stone corbels. The early 15th-century north arcade has octagonal piers and hollow chamfered arches. The south arcade is a late 19th-century copy. The pulpit was reconstructed in the late 19th century for Lady Marion Alford and incorporates pre-Raphaelite coloured angel figures by Mrs. Watts of Compton. A hymn board with an angel design was carved by David Clarke in 1898–99 and designed by Mrs F.W. Hodgson.

The north aisle contains two north windows (one of three lights, one of two) with a north doorway between, featuring a four-centred arch head. A small trefoil-headed window at the west contains 16th-century German stained glass of the Virgin and Child dated 1534, placed during the 1878 restoration. Several fine monuments have been moved here from the chancel, including a monument to Dr. Henry Stanley (died 1671) by John Bushnell featuring a large urn on a pedestal, and a storeyed wall monument to Jane, Countess of Bridgewater (died 1716), of grey marble with Corinthian columns, entablature with pediment, and an attic with cherubs flanking an heraldic panel. Other memorials appear in oval panels in the base. To the east of the north door is the monument to John, 1st Earl of Bridgewater (died 1649), known as "The Great Monument", of white marble with Ionic columns and a flat cornice carrying a large achievement, with inscriptions on black marble tablets.

The south aisle contains two three-light south windows and a small west window, two of which display stained glass by C.E. Kempe (1895). A 19th-century octagonal panelled font originally given to Ivinghoe Church by the 7th Earl of Bridgewater was transferred here in 1872; an older font cover is also present.

A fine wall monument to Elizabeth Dutton, née Egerton (died 1611), of black marble and alabaster, was removed from St Martin-in-the-Fields, London when that church was rebuilt in 1730. It depicts a kneeling full-size figure painted on a Renaissance sarcophagus between panelled piers supporting an entablature with broken pediment, with clouds carved into the soffit and surmounted by a figure of Time with a scythe. Additional monuments include one to John, Earl of Bridgewater (1686) over the south aisle door, and one to Ann Norton (died 1796) by Robert Ashton.

The west tower originally had three stages, but a floor was removed during restoration in the 1870s. It features an embattled parapet, a low pyramidal roof, moulded string courses below the parapet and below the bell stage, large two-light bell openings recessed with a quatrefoil in the head, small pointed windows to the north and south of the former middle stage, and heavy diagonal buttresses to the west corners. The stair rises in the southwest corner. The 15th-century tower arch has half-octagonal jambs with moulded caps and a four-centred arched west door in a square head, with a three-light west window above. The masonry of the lower part of the tower may date to the 13th century. A stone tablet recording benefactions is mounted on the wall.