Church of St Peter is a Grade II* listed building in the Babergh local planning authority area, England. First listed on 22 February 1955. A Victorian Church.
Church of St Peter
- WRENN ID
- far-merlon-thunder
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Babergh
- Constituency
- South Suffolk MP: James Cartlidge (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 22 February 1955
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Victorian
- Address
- Church of St Peter, Church Lane, Freston
- OS grid reference
- TM 170 395
- Coordinates
- 52.01156, 1.16206
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Peter is a Grade II* listed building located in Freston, dating from the 13th to 14th centuries, with extensive restoration carried out in 1875. The church features 19th-century additions, including a vestry and porch. It is constructed of flint rubble with some septaria in the tower and has ashlar dressings. The east end is rendered, while the porch is made of knapped flint and ashlar with a timber superstructure, topped with a plain tile roof.
The church comprises a west tower, a continuous nave and chancel, a south porch, and a polygonal organ chamber to the south, along with a similar vestry to the north. The three-stage tower has a two-light west window and belfry openings, supported by diagonal off-set flushwork buttresses, and features an embattled top stage. The south porch contains a continuously-moulded pointed door with stiff-leaf stops. The nave has two-light windows with 19th-century tracery and a blocked north door that is continuously-moulded with foliate stops. The organ chamber and vestry have single-light windows and pointed doors, both topped with conical roofs. The chancel includes a heavily restored two-light window to the south, retaining head stops to the hoodmould, and a three-light east window with 19th-century intersecting tracery and head stops to the hoodmould.
Inside, there is a tall tower arch with a sanctus bell window above, along with 19th-century timber roof and fittings. The chancel features an ogee-arched cusped piscina, and there is a 16th-century octagonal font with alternating panels of lions and demi-angels with shields, set on a renewed base. A black ledger in the tower displays the achievement of arms, inscribed to John Wright, 'patron of the church', who died on 11 February 1723. The north side of the nave features stained glass from 1922 by William Morris and Co.
Local climate
Church of St Peter sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 80% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 66% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 14 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 87% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
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- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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