Church Of St Peter

A church has stood on this site since around 1100, and late 11th or early 12th-century fabric survives at the west end of the nave and in the base of the tower. The church was apparently destroyed by the French in 1216 and rebuilt sometime later in the 13th century, when the chancel, north and south arcades, north and south chancel chapels and clerestories were built. The vaulted undercroft south of the chancel also dates from the 13th century. Considerable work was undertaken in the 14th century when the aisles were widened and the chancel refenestrated. The north porch was added in the 15th century. The south vestry was renovated in the mid-16th century, perhaps for use as a chapel by Dutch Protestants.

In 1661 the spire and upper part of the tower collapsed, destroying the south aisle. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt in brick, and the south arcade blocked. The church was restored in the 19th century. Work in 1868 may have been carried out to designs by William White, including a number of new or heavily restored windows. There was some restoration in the 20th century.

The church is built of a mix of materials, including pebbles, stone rubble with stone dressings, and brick, with tiled roofs. It comprises a nave, central tower and chancel. The north aisle stretches almost the full length of the building with a ruined north vestry at the east end. There is a two-storeyed south-east vestry, and evidence for the former south aisle.

Exterior

The exterior is notable for its mix of materials and styles, and for the archaeological evidence of former aspects of the building. It has steeply pitched roofs without parapets, except on the tower and north porch. The tall central tower forms an important landmark in Sandwich. The upper two stages were rebuilt after the collapse in the later 17th century, and have round-headed lights in a classical style. There is a square domed cupola with pronounced ridges between the sections and an embattled parapet. On the south side of the lower, medieval part of the tower is another late 17th-century window and the blocked former south tower arch with a blocked 17th-century window within it. The south sides of both the nave and the chancel also have blocked arches relating to the former south aisle and south chancel chapel.

The south nave clerestory is 13th-century and has pairs of trefoiled lights. The south vestry has a curved, Dutch gable of the mid-16th century. The vestry undercroft, only partly below ground, is lit by two 13th-century openings to the north, and there are square, 16th-century windows in the upper parts. There is a fine 14th-century east window with Decorated tracery, and the east, west, north-east and north-west windows of the north aisle are also Decorated in style. The other north aisle windows are probably late 17th or 18th-century, probably having been damaged when the tower collapsed, and have three plain lights with a central transom, all in wood, an unusual survival. The embattled north porch is 15th-century, and covers a 14th-century north door. The west door is 19th-century in a Decorated style, and there are clear breaks in the masonry indicating the extent of the damage in the 17th century.

Interior

The interior is almost entirely empty of furniture, emphasising the size of the space. Traces of a narrower nave can be seen at the west end. The north aisle is very wide, and the three-bay north nave arcade and two-bay north chancel arcade are late 13th-century and have two chamfered orders on polygonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The tower arches are of similar character, but are taller. The remains of the south nave arcade and the fragment of the south chapel arcade are like those surviving on the north side. There is no internal division between the north aisle and north chancel chapel. The 13th-century north clerestory now opens internally.

There is an early 16th-century door to the treasury with a cusped, four-centred head in a square frame, the spandrels with Renaissance cherubs, in the south wall of the chancel. The vault below the treasury is 13th-century, and has a central pier of similar character to the 13th-century work in the arcades and chamfered vault ribs.

Principal Fixtures

The church, having been largely refurnished in the 19th century, was stripped of almost all of its furniture when it passed to the Churches Conservation Trust. There are 13th-century three-seat sedilia in the chancel, with multi-layered, trefoiled arches on detached shafts. Almost entirely rebuilt in the 19th century, but enough survives to show that something similar once existed. There is an adjacent trefoiled piscina. There is a small, blocked squint in the back of the sedilia, and another to the north chapel. The royal arms of King Charles II are displayed. The roofs are late medieval in character, and have tall, plain crown posts and lightweight rafters and beams, but they may be later in date due to their scantling and tall crown posts.

The principal fixtures now are monuments. The north aisle has a series of very good late 14th-century tomb recesses. The central recess has a four-centred ogee opening with cusping and a band of pierced trefoils along the arch. The tomb chest has quatrefoil panels with shields. There are further shields in the surround, which may have been for Thomas Ellis, sometime mayor of Sandwich, who died after 1382. Another recess has a plainer, four-centred surround and a tomb chest with trefoil-headed arches. The effigies, of a man and a woman in late 14th-century civilian dress are very fine, and may belong to John Ellis, merchant, and his wife, around 1360-90. Their heads are turned slightly to see the altar.

Also in the north aisle is a very fine, but damaged, military effigy, said to be of Sir John Grove, who died in 1347 although the armour is earlier, which was salvaged from the ruins of the south aisle in the late 18th century. There are some good wall tablets, notably a cartouche with drapes and cherubs for Henry (died 1769) and Mary (died 1772) Wise and their daughter Elizabeth. Also an unusual timber triptych with low relief foliage carving, a memorial for Herbert (died 1915) and Maurice (died 1916) Day, sons of the then vicar. Ledger slabs and brass indents are set in the floor.

Setting

A walled garden on the south side stands on the site of the former south aisle. A two-light 14th-century window with geometric tracery from the former St Thomas's Hospital was re-erected in the churchyard in 1923.

Historical Context

Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports, and was a major port for the wool trade with the Continent in the high middle ages. St Peter's was already a large church by the 12th century, but wealth brought by the wool trade undoubtedly explains the size and grandeur of the 13th-century rebuilding of the church, which included not only the north and south aisles, but also the crypt below the south-east vestry or treasury, a very unusual feature for a parish church. There was further rebuilding in the 14th century, and the enlargement of the south aisle is attributed to Sir John Grove, who died in 1347. The building of the north aisle is undoubtedly related to the patronage of one or more of the people buried in the tombs in the north wall.

The harbour at Sandwich began to silt up in the 15th century, and the town began to decline, although the rebuilding of the upper part of the so-called treasury in the 16th century suggests a degree of continued prosperity. Its Dutch gable is a common feature in Sandwich and is related to the influx of Dutch and Flemish cloth workers. The central tower at St Peter's was in poor condition by the mid-17th century, and on 13 October 1661 it collapsed onto the south aisle. The church was patched up and the upper part of the tower rebuilt in the late 17th century. By the 19th century, it was in poor condition and some repairs were carried out.

The three parish churches of Sandwich were united in 1948, with St Clement's remaining in use for worship. St Peter's was used by Sir Roger Manwood's school as its chapel until 1973. It was vested in the Churches Conservation Trust in 1974.