Church Of St Peter And St Paul

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a parish church with origins dating back to the 12th century, which was remodeled in the 13th and 19th centuries. It was restored in 1888 by James Brooks. The church is constructed of flint and rubble, featuring a ragstone chancel, a plain tiled roof, and a shingled spire. The layout includes a chancel with north and south chapels, a nave with a south aisle, a west tower, and a north porch. The west tower is two bays wide and has a central offset buttress, along with two renewed 12th-century lancet windows. The spire overhangs the timber tower, and there is a hollow moulded 13th-century west doorway. A large gabled dormer is located over the south aisle, and the church has 19th-century windows throughout, except for two trefoiled ogee-headed lights in the north chapel. The timber-glazed north porch features a renewed 12th-century north doorway with attached shafts and roll moulding, which appears to have been re-set from another location.

Inside, the reveals of the west lancets date back to the 12th century. The thickness of the walling at the south-west and the nave, along with a large round pier, are remnants of an original square west tower that was removed in 1888. The nave has a 19th-century barrel vault roof that stops one bay short of the west wall, where there is an intrusive frame for the belfry. The south arcade consists of five simple pointed arches on crudely capitalled round piers, while the north chapel has a two-bay chamfered arcade on octagonal piers. The chancel arch and chancel were added in the 19th century. Notable fittings include 19th-century encaustic tiles and a painted marble reredos in the chancel, a trefoiled piscina in the south aisle, and a 16th-century octagonal font with alternating shields and roses, which was taken from Eastry church. There is also an 18th-century round vase-shaped font on a bulbous stem, and the arms of George III are displayed on the north nave wall. The church was originally a chapel of Eastry.