Church Of St Peter And St Paul

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a church dating from 1891 to 1893, designed by James Brooks in the French Gothic style. It was constructed of Kentish ragstone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof, featuring an octagonal lead and shingled fleche. The church has a cruciform plan, incorporating a five-bay nave with aisles, a two-bay chancel, transepts, a south porch, and a south-east vestry. The windows are predominantly lancets arranged in tiers at the end of each arm. The west front is distinguished by a gable with a cross-shaped saddlestone, three tiers of triple lancets, and an arched doorcase with colonnettes and zigzag moulding. The nave features clerestory lancets and paired lancets to the aisles; the north aisle has an additional arched doorcase. The south porch possesses a gable with a cross-shaped saddlestone, a quatrefoil featuring crossed keys and an arched doorcase. Quatrefoil openings are present on the east and west walls of the porch. The transepts feature rose windows and three tiers of triple lancets. The two-bay chancel exhibits a cross-shaped saddlestone, an oculus and three tiers of triple windows with stilted arches – the two lower tiers being filled in within existing openings and flanked by buttresses. A large, single-story, south-east vestry includes lancets, some paired with mullions, a southern chimney, and a staircase and arched doorcase to the west.

Inside, an arcade with octagonal piers extends upwards to form giant blank arches, creating a high clerestory with lancet windows. The roof is wooden boarded with crownposts. Piscinas are found in the chancel and north chapel. The original high altar is extant, with a marble top and carved base featuring quatrefoil mouldings, alongside a carved wooden pulpit and an octagonal stone and granite font. Much of the original stained glass, primarily at a lower level, endures, interspersed with leaded light windows above. Seven early 19th-century wall tablets are present in the south transept and two early 18th-century wall tablets commemorate the Monins family from the earlier church on the site. A coat of arms displaying the motto RESURGAM in the north aisle likely originated from the previous church, and there is also an 18th-century stone font from another church. The choir stalls were salvaged from the bombed Church of St Barnabas. Post-war replacements by Kenneth Lindley took place to replace the lost east windows to both the chancel and the north chapel. A 1950s reredos with columns and an ogee head, alongside marble communion railings, steps, and a floor, are also present.