Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

A large and imposing town church with medieval origins and substantial 19th-century remodelling. The building retains some medieval work from the 13th century, including doorways, and from the 15th century, including arcades. The tower is said to have been rebuilt following its collapse in 1801. The major architectural campaign was undertaken in 1893–95 by Lord Grimthorpe, when the nave was lengthened to the west by one bay, the north aisle was widened by 1.2 metres, and the chancel was lengthened. Parish rooms were added to the north side in 1992 by David Morgan.

Materials and Structure

The tower is constructed of English bond red brick. The rest of the church is built of flint with limestone dressings and slate roofs. The parish rooms are of red brick. The building comprises a nave, north and south aisles, south porch, crossing tower, chancel, south-east vestry, and parish rooms on the north side.

Exterior

The chancel has large clasping buttresses terminating in large conical ashlar pinnacles. The east window is Perpendicular with five lights, with a lobed trefoil above it in the gable. The chancel side windows have large lancets with shafts. The south-east vestry is lit by segmental-headed two-light traceried windows and has a coped parapet.

The red-brick crossing tower has clasping flint and ashlar buttresses terminating in large cricketed conical pinnacles and a pierced, corbelled parapet. The lower part of the tower contains three-light Perpendicular traceried windows with roll-moulded tracery, while above are roundels with moulded frames and Y-tracery belfry windows. A projecting north-west polygonal stair turret rises from the lower stage, and a clock face is positioned on the south side of the tower.

To the aisles are buttresses with set-offs and gables, and coped parapets. The nave features a clerestory with three-light uncusped windows under Tudor arches. At the west end of the nave stand polygonal north and south turrets with buttresses terminating in large conical pinnacles. Above a small moulded west doorway is a massive west rose window. The lean-to aisles have large west-end lancets. The north aisle contains large windows with Victorian curvilinear Decorated tracery, while the south aisle retains originally medieval Perpendicular windows of three lights, though the stonework has been renewed. The south porch has a steep tiled roof, clasping buttresses, and a moulded outer doorway. Its inner doorway dates to the 13th century and features nook shafts with moulded capitals linked to a stoup with a stone frame and brattished cornice.

Interior

The walls are plastered and painted, including the stonework of the arcades and other masonry originally intended to be exposed. The west and east arches of the crossing have four orders of chamfers, with the chamfers dying into lozenge-shaped responds. Between the nave and aisles are seven-bay arcades with very tall piers of standard section, each comprising four shafts and four hollows. The nave walls incorporate carved and painted corbel heads from the pre-1890s roof.

The roof over the nave is of king-post and strut construction with iron bands and two tiers of purlins; the tie-beams are carried on moulded stone corbels. A similar roof spans the chancel. The aisle roofs have arched braces carried on clustered demi-shafts and two tiers of purlins, springing from the outer face of the arcades. The crossing is covered by a flat boarded ceiling divided into panels by moulded ribs. The sanctuary is paved with black and white tiles.

Fittings and Fixtures

At the west entrance to the crossing is an elaborate Perpendicular-style screen of 1905 by Temple Moore, featuring coving, cresting, and cusped arches. The reredos, with fielded panelling, gilded cresting, and a canopy, was dedicated in 1946. Chancel panelling is designed to match, and dado panelling in the aisles, completed in 1962, follows the same design. Choir stalls to the west of the crossing date from the 20th century.

A fine and lavishly carved polygonal timber pulpit of 1863, made by J A Goyers of Lincoln, features sides carved with figures of the Evangelists beneath cusped arches and a panel of elaborate vine carving below the handrail. The font comprises a richly carved tapering octagonal stone bowl on an octagonal stem decorated with shafts bearing carved capitals. Pew ends have sunk panels flanked by miniature angle buttresses and include holders and drip-trays for umbrellas.

Monuments include a brass to Roger Pemberton, high sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1620. A large wall monument to Edward Strong, mason (died 1723), is crowned by an open pediment with a bust. Strong was chief master mason on St Paul's Cathedral and the inscription records his work on "that stupendous fabrick" of Wren's; he also worked on five of Wren's churches, Greenwich Palace, Winchester Palace, and Blenheim Palace.

Stained Glass

The church contains an interesting collection of stained glass. The south aisle is filled with windows of 1868–72 by Capronnier of Brussels forming a series illustrating parables. The east window of 1913 is by Kempe and Co., designed by J W Lisle. A further Kempe window is located at the west end of the north aisle. The fine glass in the rose window was executed by Burlison and Grylls in 1922. An unusual and fine window in the east bay of the north aisle was designed by Louis Davies and executed by Powell and Powell.

History

The first church on the site is said to have been built, along with those of St Michael and St Stephen, by Abbot Wulfsin in the mid-10th century. By the 13th century, the church had taken the form it would retain until the 18th century, with documentary evidence attesting to a central tower by 1254. Significant rebuilding occurred in the 15th century, particularly of the arcades. In 1756 the tower arches were removed and replaced with loftier ones, while the tower was heightened with consequences that proved disastrous. Underpinning took place in 1785 but proved ineffective, so in 1799 the tower was taken down to the top of the arches. In 1801 the belfry floor fell, precipitating a complete rebuilding that was completed in 1803.

The next major intervention was Lord Grimthorpe's extensive rebuilding campaign of the 1890s. Edmund Beckett (Denison), created Lord Grimthorpe in 1886 (1816–1905), was an amateur architect known for his involvement with the completion of the Big Ben clock tower at Westminster. He is best known for his extreme restoration of St Alban's Abbey in 1880–85; the robustness of his approach to replacement and invention is evident in this church also.