Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a parish church and mausoleum, originally associated with Melton Constable Park and the Astley family. While its origins may predate 1066, construction and modification occurred across several centuries. The church is built of conglomerate and flint, with stone dressings and a tiled roof dating to approximately 1900.

The nave features a late 19th-century Romanesque doorway on its west gable, above which is a 2-light window with Y tracery, thought to be from around 1300. A blocked Perpendicular style doorway is visible on the south wall of the nave, and the north wall contains a round-headed lancet window, deeply splayed internally, and a 3-light Perpendicular window. The crossing tower has quoins and a slightly recessed belfry stage, featuring blocked round-headed openings and late 19th-century Romanesque windows beneath a conical roof. A 2-light straight-headed Perpendicular window is on the tower's ground floor. The chancel displays 19th-century details, including buttresses and a 3-light east window.

Inside the nave, a 5-bay Perpendicular arched braced roof is supported by wall posts resting on stone corbels, with carved bosses at the intersections. An unusual feature at the crossing is a low, rounded arch supporting a Romanesque window opening, originally likely part of a larger set, with a central massive shaft and two arches beneath a tympanum. The sanctuary tower contains a 19th-century round arch to the north and a Perpendicular chancel arch to the west, with Perpendicular details to the south including a squint. The chancel has a 19th-century boarded roof with arched braces on carved angle corbels and a mid-to-late 19th-century wooden reredos incorporating a triptych with grisaille panels. A monument, dated 1818, is inscribed “Bacon invenit, Manning fecit.” A recut Easter recess on the south side now incorporates a First World War memorial.

The south transept was added as a family tribune around 1681, with a panelled dado and pews, a segmental arched opening to the nave, and classical detailing. Staircases date to 1636. The church holds a valuable collection of 18th-century family monuments, none of which are signed, and heraldic painted decorations depicting the Astley family history from the Norman Conquest to the present day. A north wall monument is inscribed “J. Bacon sculpt 1807.” The north window contains fragments of 16th and 17th-century glazing, and the chancel east window displays 15th-century glass. The north transept features a Crucifixion window dating to 1859. The church was restored in 1885, and the chancel furnishings and reredos in 1903.