Church of St Peter and St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul

The Church of St Peter and St Paul at Bromley is a striking example of post-war ecclesiastical architecture, notable for preserving its 15th-century tower from an earlier medieval and 19th-century church that was destroyed during the Second World War.

The 15th-century tower is embattled with a polygonal north-east stair turret that rises above the parapet. It comprises three stages with a heavily restored 15th-century-style west window but no west door; a small 20th-century south door; foiled single-light openings with square heads in the middle stage; and two-light bell openings with foiled lights under square heads. The tower was very heavily restored after suffering damage from fire in 1941. It is now attached to the north-west corner of a complex-plan church, positioned where it formerly stood at the west end of the south aisle of the old building.

The main body of the church was entirely rebuilt in 1949-57 to designs by J Harold Gibbons in a severe Gothic style influenced by southern French ecclesiastical architecture. It is constructed of stone rubble with cut stone dressings, with slated roofs to the new work and a leaded roof to the tower. The complex-plan structure incorporates double aisles, transepts, an apsidal chapel immediately east of the tower, and a substantial west parish rooms complex added in 1982.

The exterior is distinguished by monumental features characteristic of early French Gothic style: a full-height arch and enormous window with a statue on the central mullion over the main entrance in the north transept are particularly notable. The south side of the chancel displays French Gothic-style window tracery and massing that contrasts strikingly with the plainer south transept. Additional later Gothic-style windows include a large Perpendicular-style west window and Tudor-style windows with square heads in the aisles and clerestory. The attached north-west apsidal chapel appears visually distinct from the tower, creating an effective division between the medieval and 20th-century elements.

The interior of the tower was gutted by the 1941 fire and now contains an inserted floor creating an upper chapel. The 15th-century tower arch, which originally featured a hollow-chamfered outer order and inner order with hollow-chamfered polygonal responds, moulded capitals and high bases, has been underbuilt and now has plain doors opening to the apsidal chapel. The 20th-century church interior is plain and monumental with elegant, stylised detailing in a stripped-back early Gothic style, creating an excellent play of light and shadow.

The church preserves several important fixtures from its predecessor. A 12th-century font with a square bowl featuring blind arcading survived the 1941 damage and stands on a 20th-century base resembling an enormous cushion capital on a polygonal stem, with a fine 20th-century cover in stylised 17th-century style featuring ogee finials and curved buttresses rising to a central column. A 14th-century door with ogee tracery, which survived the destruction of the old church, hangs in the base of the tower.

The north ambulatory passage displays the finest graveslabs from the old church and churchyard, including the slab for Elizabeth (Tetty) Johnson, died 1752/3, wife of Dr Samuel Johnson. Also displayed here are Thornhill brasses of circa 1600 and brasses for the Tweedy family. A plaque commemorates J Harold Gibbons, architect of the rebuilding, who died in 1957, and another honours Hazel Kissick, who was killed by the bomb that destroyed the original church.

The pulpit was designed by J Harold Gibbons and made by Robert Thompson, featuring carvings of the Four Evangelists and an inscription recording its donation by the Diocese of Rochester (USA). The choir stalls and south chapel screens are also by Gibbons in free Gothic style. A wooden eagle lectern is also present. The church contains some fine 1950s glass by M E Aldrich Rope.

The churchyard contains good monuments and table tombs, and a lychgate dating from 1855. The present car park and adjoining garden stand over the remains of the old church and are therefore archaeologically sensitive.

The medieval church may have existed before the Norman Conquest, as the manor was held by the Bishop of Rochester, but a church is documented from the early 12th century. It was largely rebuilt in the 14th century, and the tower was built or rebuilt in the 15th century. By the 18th century the church had galleries. In 1824, the medieval structure except for the tower was demolished and rebuilt on a much larger scale. The 19th-century church, excluding the 15th-century tower, was entirely destroyed by a 550-pound bomb in April 1941, which also gutted the tower by fire. The church was rebuilt in 1949-57 to the south of the old church site, leaving the tower, which had previously stood at the west end of the south aisle, at the north-west corner of the new structure. The rebuilding was designed by J Harold Gibbons and was partly influenced by his church at Kenton near Harrow in Middlesex, though the Bromley church is on a much grander scale.