Church Of St Peter And St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul

This is a parish church dating from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, with restoration carried out around 1845. It is built of stone with plain tile roofs.

The church comprises a west tower, continuous nave and chancel, a continuous south aisle and chapel, and a continuous but broader north aisle and chapel. The chapels do not extend to the east end. North and south porches are present.

The west tower dates from the 15th century and stands on a moulded plinth with angle buttresses. It is in three stages with battlements above a moulded string decorated with gargoyles. A north-east stair turret, slightly taller and also battlemented, rises from the corner. The belfry windows consist of two trefoil-headed lights with square tops and hoodmoulds. Single trefoil-headed lights with square tops and hoodmoulds light the middle stage on north and south sides. The west window is pointed-arched with rendered 19th-century intersecting tracery but retains a 15th-century hoodmould. The west doorway is 2-centred arched with moulding in a square-topped architrave with casement moulding. Single shafts either side have bell capitals and moulded bases that spring quatrefoiled spandrels. The hoodmould is moulded with a head label stop.

The south aisle dates from the 14th century, while the south chapel probably dates from the 14th century but occupies a 13th-century site. It has no plinth and is buttressed at the south-west and south-east angles, with 2 additional south buttresses. The roof is gabled. A small cusped ogee light with hoodmould is positioned to the west. Three south windows have 19th-century tracery in medieval styles. The 3-light east window has cavetto mullions and possibly only the tracery was renewed in the 19th century. The south porch is 19th-century with a moulded 2-centred arched outer doorway. The inner doorway is moulded and 2-centred arched with a roll-and-fillet hoodmould and outward-turning scrolls.

The chancel is 13th-century. It has north-east and south-east angle buttresses. The roof is gabled with a ridge lower than that of the nave. A hollow-chamfered lancet window is positioned to the south, and 2 hollow-chamfered lancet windows to the north. The east window has four lights with trefoil-headed lights and sexfoils, and dates from the 19th century.

The north aisle dates from the 14th century and the north chapel probably dates from the 14th century but occupies a 13th-century site. It is gabled with north-east and north-west angle buttresses and 2 north buttresses. The east window has 3 lights with intersecting tracery and dates from the 19th century. Four north windows in a 14th-century style date from the 19th century, the one furthest east being set within a medieval architrave. A 19th-century west window is also present. The north porch is notably broad with a plain-tiled broad pointed-arched vault. It has no gate. The inner doorway is moulded and pointed-arched with a roll-and-fillet hoodmould and outward-turning scrolls. A projecting stone stoup stands to the west of the doorway.

Interior

The interior structure features a 4-bay 14th-century nave arcade to north and south, which stops approximately 5 feet short of the west end. The pointed arches have 2 chamfered orders and spring from octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases. The chancel arcade consists of a single broad pointed chamfered arch on north and south sides, springing from rectangular piers with nicked hollow-chamfered imposts and roll stops. The chancel arch is broad, pointed and bevelled with a roll stop, possibly dating from the 13th century. A tall 15th-century tower arch has 3 orders of hollow chamfers, with the central order springing from a single attached column on either side, each with moulded capital and base. A pointed-arched doorway to the tower stairs has a hollow chamfer and broach stops. Rounded rood-loft stair arches are squinted between the east ends of the north and south aisles and the west end of the chancel.

The roof of the nave features 4 octagonal crown posts with moulded capitals and bases resting on cambered double-chamfered tie-beams, with sous-laces, ashlar-pieces and moulded cornice. The chancel has 19th-century boarding. The north aisle and north chapel share a roof with common rafters, sous-laces, ashler-pieces, moulded cornice and 4 moulded tie-beams. The south aisle and chapel have similar roof construction.

Fittings and Furnishings

A piscina in the south wall of the chancel has a cinquefoiled ogee head with sexfoiled drain. A similar piscina in the south chapel has a plain drain. A projecting stone stoup is positioned in the north chapel. The 15th-century octagonal font stands on 2 octagonal stone steps and has a buttressed stem with a bowl decorated with shields and roses. Fragmentary 15th-century screens exist between the north and south aisles and chancels. A 19th-century stall on the south side of the chancel has 3 bays of blind tracery, the outer 2 incorporating medieval work. Raised 18th-century panels bearing the Creed, Decalogue and Lord's Prayer now serve as a screen at the west end of the south aisle. A late 18th-century Benefactors' Board is positioned over the south door.