Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a parish church that dates back to medieval times but was largely rebuilt in 1861 by J.H. Hakewell after the collapse of its medieval tower onto the nave. The chancel was not rebuilt but was restored in the mid-19th century. The church consists of a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a west tower, a south porch, and a north vestry. It is constructed from flint rubble with freestone dressings, and the 1861 work features bands of red brick at the springing line of the windows and beneath the cills, along with flushed flint rubble parapets. The roofs are slated, with parapet gables on the nave and chancel, the latter using graded Westmorland slates, while other roofs are flat behind parapets.

At the time of the collapse, the church had significant mid-14th century work, much of which was faithfully restored. Although some freestone was reused, most of the moulded work is from 1861. The church has tall two-light windows in both aisles, several of which contain medieval glass, set within five-bay blind arcades that echo the nave arcades, which feature slender piers with attached half-columns. The clerestory windows are designed in sexfoil and quatrefoil shapes. The roof of the nave has a plain archbraced collar beam design from 1861, replacing a 14th-century crownpost roof with rising braces from tiebeams, while the aisle roofs are simple copies of the original.

The chancel boasts large early 15th-century windows. The medieval vestry has been converted into an organ chamber. A moulded late 14th-century south doorway leads into the chancel. There is a 15th-century double piscina with a credence shelf and a stepped triple sedilia, all beneath five boldly-cusped arches with enriched spandrels. The church features a mid-14th-century octagonal font with a reeded stem and shallow foliate patterns around the bowl. The choirstalls have traceried eight-bay stall-fronts of 15th-century origin, both with poppyhead ends, and four additional poppyhead ends are found in the 19th-century stalls. There are also 12 15th-century poppyhead benches with traceried ends in the aisles, along with a worn medieval slab in the south aisle floor and four others from the 18th and 19th centuries in the nave.