Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a medieval parish church, extensively restored in 1892. It comprises a nave, chancel, north aisle, west tower, and south porch. The building is constructed of coursed flint rubble, with the aisle and chancel plastered. Stone dressings are present, and the roofs are slate (nave, aisle, and porch) and plain tiles (chancel).

The west tower likely dates to the late 14th century, featuring four stages and a parapet, with diagonal buttresses displaying some flushwork. It has a two-light west window and two-light bell chamber openings with wooden tracery. The south wall of the nave contains two narrow 12th-century windows and two 15th-century two-light windows. Two later rectangular windows are positioned higher up to illuminate the rood and a former west gallery. The simple 15th-century south porch has a knapped flint parapet with stone coping, a niche above the entrance, and a stoup to the right. The south doorway is of good quality, featuring carved shields in the spandrels, fleurons, and blank shields to the arch head and jambs; the original door is likely still in situ. The chancel has a 13th-century lancet window to the north and south, with other windows dating to the late 14th or 15th centuries; a priest’s doorway is located to the south.

The north aisle was added in the early to mid-16th century, with three-light windows. Four late 19th-century brick buttresses reinforce the north wall, and a late 19th-century roof sits above the original. The nave features a good, late 15th-century six-bay arch-braced roof with east-west bracing between wall posts and ridge posts. There is a three-bay aisle arcade with octagonal piers, and the original aisle roof remains. The chancel arch and roof are of 1892 design, with the arch resting on carved corbels and displaying drop tracery.

A late 15th-century octagonal font is present, having defaced panels but retaining traces of its original colour. A 17th-century pulpit is also in place, and two simple 15th-century benches with poppyhead ends survive in the nave. A banner stave locker, now with a modern door, is set into the south nave wall, and the arms of George III are displayed on the west nave wall. A large oil painting on boards, dating to around 1500, is mounted on the north aisle wall; it depicts the Last Judgement and originally formed the tympanum to the chancel arch. The rood and supporting figures were once attached to the painting but have since disappeared, and a later inscription is visible below. This style of painting on boards is rare. The east sanctuary wall contains two monuments to Philippa Leman (died 1757) and Eliza Rooe (née Leman) (died 1747). The church is designated Grade I for its medieval fabric and the exceptional Last Judgement painting.