Church Of St Peter

TL 97 SE HEPWORTH CHURCH LANE

3/4 Church of St. Peter 14.7.55

II*

Parish church. C13 and later: seriously damaged by fire in 1898, and extensively rebuilt by J.S. Corder of Ipswich. Nave, chancel, south porch and west tower, all in rubble flint, partly covered with old render. Plaintiled roofs. 2-light windows in Perpendicular style to nave; C14 windows in Decorated style to chancel; in the south wall, a traceried low-side window, and a 3-light east window with reticulated tracery. South porch, largely reconstructed, contains fragments of an earlier Norman church, and the open roof has some reused C16 moulded timbers. An empty niche with trefoil head above the south door. Plain tower with large diagonal buttresses, partly faced with panels of large black knapped flints. Plain parapet, with conical roof rising above it. Plain west doorway with hood mould over. A small quatrefoil window to each face of the middle stage, and a window with semi- circular arched head to each face of the top stage. Across the upper part of the west face is the date 1677 in large cast iron figures: this may well be the date of the top stage windows. The lower part of the tower and the western buttresses have been extensively tied together with ironwork: an entry in the Diary of Thomas King of Thelnetham records: 'Hepworth Steeple screwed together with irons by Mr. Bloomfield of Thelnetham, November 1828'. The interior fittings, including the double hammer-beam roof, date from the post- fire restoration of 1899. Beside the pulpit is the blocked door to the former rood stairs, and on the south wall of the nave the remains of a much-damaged piscina with cusped head. 6 C15 poppy-head bench ends survive in the chancel. The one outstanding feature of the church is the late C14 pinnacled font cover, octagonal, and 12ft 6 inches high. The ornate carving is unusual, and much-damaged, in 3 tiers, with a 3-tier pinnacle above; the lowest stage has a miniature building on each face, with windows and doorways in which little figures stand.

Listing NGR: TL9874874854