Roman Catholic Church Of St Peter And Presbytery

The Roman Catholic Church of St Peter, with its adjoining presbytery, was built in 1912 and is likely the work of J. Kelly. The church is designed in the Lombard Romanesque style.

The church is constructed of red brick in a stretcher bond, with slate roofs, rounded forms to the chancel and Lady Chapel, and deep overhanging eaves with open pediments to the south chapels and entrance. The plan incorporates an apsidal chancel and Lady Chapel, a six-bay aisled nave with three square-ended chapels to the south aisle, a semicircular north-west projection for the font, a south-west campanile (bell tower), and an entrance at the west end. The presbytery abuts the north-east corner, with its own entrance on Shelley Road.

The west front features an open pediment with a circular window and niche above the entrance, flanked by paired pilasters and a round-headed doorcase. A tall campanile tower adjoins the south side, topped with a copper roof, and incorporates an open loggia of Tuscan columns to the bell chamber. The south front is mostly unlit, except for three small casements and large round-headed clerestory windows, with dramatic, cavetto-shaped buttresses between the three open pedimented chapels. The Lady Chapel has two lancet windows in its curved wall, and the apsidal chancel is unlit.

Inside, the church is rendered and has a barrel vault roof with ribs. Tuscan columns support the nave arcade, connected by round-headed arches, and a similar screen at the west end features blind roundels in the spandrels, supporting an organ loft with turned wooden balustrading. A heavy modillion moulded cornice runs along the interior. The apsidal chancel is faced with brown marble panels, linked by vertical bands of black and white marble in a chevron pattern, with a colonnade of variagated green marble giant pilasters and Corinthian capitals. Inlaid marble communion rails are present. The Lady Chapel features a marble floor, a marble inlaid reredos and altar. A semicircular recess for the font is lined with white marble, housing a baluster font with a flat cover. A wooden pulpit with a sounding board is also present.

The presbytery is built of red brick in a stretcher bond, with semicircular relieving arches to window openings and slate roofs. It extends over two storeys plus an attic. The left side has an open pediment with deep eaves and a tripartite lunette window with a 16-pane sash window below. A full-height flat-roofed canted bay with 16-pane sash windows is centrally located, flanked by eight-pane windows. A two-storey block to the right features square-headed 16-pane sash windows on each floor. The entrance is on the right return (north).