Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a historic building located in St Mary Bourne, featuring elements from various periods. It includes a chancel, nave with aisles, a western tower, a south porch, and a north vestry. The wide Norman chancel arch is a notable feature, while the originally aisleless nave is now pierced with plain pointed transitional arches that rest on square piers with inset corner columns, which have moulded bell-caps or convoluted scallops. The arcades are unequal in size.

The chancel, dating from around 1300 and restored in 1855, has traceried lights with stepped reveals, a piscina, and a priest's door. The south aisle, known as the Wyber Aisle, was widened in the 14th century and features an ogee arched recess with a 'crusaders' effigy and an 18th-century chandelier. Within the nave, there is a large Tournai black marble font from 1150-1200, which has a modern base. The church also contains wall paintings, including texts in the nave and south aisle, a Royal Coat of Arms of Charles I, painted benefaction boards, a lectern from around 1700, and remnants of a silk altar frontal from 1687.

Externally, the walls are constructed of flint with stone dressings. The chancel features buttresses, reticulate tracery, and a recent east window. The south aisle has a stone moulded parapet. The plain tower includes a 16th-century parapet and upper coupled openings beneath hood moulds. Most of the windows are of Victorian design. The porch is timber-framed with lower brick walls, and the steep tiled roof of the chancel, dating from the mid-19th century, contrasts with the low pitched lead roof that covers the nave and aisles, which is of more recent construction.