Church Of St Peter And St Paul

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a parish church dating from 1853-5, designed by F & H Francis. It is constructed of rough-dressed squared Swanage stone with limestone dressings, and has a plain tile roof. The church is cruciform in plan, comprising a chancel with a north vestry (now linked to a 20th-century meeting room), a central tower, north and south transepts, aisled nave, and a south porch. The design is in a restrained late Early English/early Decorated style.

The east end of the chancel features a stepped triple lancet window with angle buttresses and a hood mould. Eight lancets with linked hood moulds are positioned on the sides, with hipped buttresses between each pair, and a level string running around them. The tower has an octagonal south-east stair tower to the second stage with small slit-lights. A square-plan tower with an offset to the top stage, containing paired Decorated 2-light louvred bell openings and a clock face on the south side, is also present. A moulded cornice sits below a battlemented parapet with merlons pierced by quatrefoils. The south transept has paired lancets to the east, a buttress between, and a stepped quintuple lancet with a hood mould and quatrefoil window in the gable. Angle buttresses are present. The north transept incorporates the vestry along its east wall, and a triple lancet window with a quatrefoil in the gable, also with angle buttresses. The aisles feature a lower-pitched lead roof and four Decorated 3-light trefoiled windows, with sloping-topped buttresses between. A corbelled parapet runs around the west end. The gabled south porch has a 3-order archway, with a gable wall and angle buttresses. Windows are found in the aisles, a central 3-order west doorway, and above, a 5-light Decorated window.

Inside the chancel, rere arches frame pairs of lancets and at the east end, marble shafts support a string below. Stained glass from 1857 is by Ward and Hughes. A reredos from 1870 features trefoiled arches under gables and marble panelling on each side. A late 13th-century double piscina is located in the south-east corner. The church has an arch-braced roof. A brass to John Prophete, dated 1416, is set into a slab. A 2-order chancel arch stands on a cluster of three large columns, with three steps leading down. Three similar arches are present in the crossing. To the north is an organ and a monument from 1724 to Henry Compton. The south transept chapel contains monuments dated 1681 to Barth Layton, 1768 to George Bright and family, 1760 to Hackman, 1778 to John Maule, 1766 to William Barfoot, 1784 to John Briney, and 1801 to James Mowbray. Both the transepts have hammerbeam roofs. The nave has four-bay aisles, with clustered shafts and hammerbeam roofs in the aisles. A north-east marble pulpit is located within the nave. The north aisle has three hatchment boards, while the south aisle has two. Monuments include those to John and Anne Willis (1716-1727), the Newman family, and Arthur Newman (1785), and Gally (1824).