Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a parish church located in Bishops Waltham, originally built on an earlier site by Henry de Blois in 1136. The chancel was added in the 15th century by William of Wickham, with a south-west tower completed in 1584, a north aisle added in 1637, and a south aisle in 1652. The church underwent restorations in 1849 (at the west end of the nave), 1868, and by Sir Thomas Jackson in 1897.

The church features walls made of flint with stone dressings, including ashlar stonework sourced from the nearby ruins of the Bishops Palace. Some walls display a chequer pattern with flint, while later sections are constructed of squared knapped flint. The roof is tiled, with separate roofs for the aisles. The nave has a four-bay arcade, and there is an aisleless chancel. The tower is located at the west end of the south aisle, and there is a gallery extending over the nave and north aisle, along with a south porch built in 1613.

Architecturally, the church exhibits Perpendicular style with stepped buttresses, diagonal at the east ends, and windows featuring Perpendicular tracery and coupled lights in square frames. Inside, there is a north arcade dating to around 1200, supported by plain circular shafts, and a similar south arcade from 1897 with round and octagonal columns. The chancel arch, in Early English style, was also completed in 1897.

Notable interior features include a Norman (possibly Saxon) font, rediscovered in 1933 and returned to the church, and a finely panelled pulpit from 1626, a gift from Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, which includes a matching 19th-century sounding board. The communion rail, dating to around 1600, has turned rails, while the main west gallery, constructed in 1733, features a panelled font supported by thin cast-iron columns. Decorative elements include a carved stone coat of arms of Thomas Longton from 1493 and fragments from the Norman church.

The church also houses wall monuments, including two hatchments, a Royal Coat of Arms of Charles II, and smaller monuments to Thomas Ashton (1629), Ann Cruys (1624), Mary Kerly (1716), Richard Biggs (1749), and Jane Wright (1753), along with several wall monuments in the chancel from the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Church of St Peter is recognized for its post-Reformation alterations, showcasing a late-Perpendicular or Elizabethan Gothic style, with a classical plinth moulding on the south aisle, built during the interregnum.