Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

Parish church with a possibly late 11th or 12th century core, substantially rebuilt and extended in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. The church was damaged by fire and repaired in 1832. The nave, aisles, porches and south transept were rebuilt in 1874–5 by the architect Habershon.

Exterior

The chancel and lower section of the tower are constructed of ragstone rubble. The upper section of the tower is built with larger blocks of roughly-coursed ragstone. The north aisle is of roughly-coursed stone, while the nave, south aisle, south transept and porches are of snecked stone. The chancel and south transept have plain tile roofs; the remainder has slate roofing.

The church comprises a nave with north and south aisles, north and south porches, a south transept, a crossing tower, and a chancel. The west gable end features a hollow-chamfered plinth and a moulded string below the nave window. The west ends of the north and south aisles are battlemented above a moulded string, with the string and battlements returning across the elevation. Diagonal buttresses rise to the aisles, and pilaster buttresses to the nave, all rising to crocketed pinnacles. The nave has a coped gable. A 19th-century five-light window lights the nave, and a matching window the south aisle. The north aisle retains a restored 15th-century two-light window with ogee-headed lights, a squared head and hoodmould.

The south porch has a hollow-chamfered plinth, diagonal buttresses, and a moulded string below a plain parapet rising to a gable over the doorway. The 15th-century pointed-arched south doorway is reset in a shafted square-headed cavetto-moulded architrave with trefoiled spandrels and a squared hoodmould. A 19th-century pointed-arched inner doorway also features. A sundial, originally positioned on the south side of the tower, was removed in 1874–5.

The south aisle has a hollow-chamfered plinth, moulded string and battlements, with two buttresses alternating with three 19th-century three-light traceried windows. The south transept projects south of the south aisle and has diagonal buttresses, a hollow-chamfered plinth and string, and a plain stone coped parapet rising to the south gable. A tall 19th-century four-light mullioned and transomed window lights the south elevation. The east elevation contains a blocked moulded pointed-arched doorway and a rectangular doorway with a boarded door.

The chancel dates to the 13th century, possibly with an earlier core. It has a plain-chamfered stone plinth. A two-light window of the 14th or 15th century on the south-west has two cinquefoil-headed lights and a squared moulded hoodmould. A trefoil-headed south-east lancet and a three-light 19th-century east window also feature. Two trefoil-headed sandstone lancets light the north side.

The tower is probably of late 11th or 12th-century origin but was altered and partly rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries. It features broad battlements above a moulded string. Two-light belfry windows with squared heads appear on the east and west (two each), and north and south (one each). A broad rectangular hollow-chamfered single light sits below the south belfry windows. A polygonal south-west stair turret is present.

The north aisle was rebuilt in 1874–5, reusing four 15th-century windows. It has a hollow-chamfered plinth and battlements above a moulded string. A diagonal north-east buttress and two north buttresses provide structural support. A five-light pointed-arched east window has three cinquefoil-headed lights with vertical bar tracery and a moulded hoodmould. Three similar north windows alternate with buttresses. A small moulded four-centred arched doorway with a ribbed door sits towards the east end. The north porch features 19th-century pointed-arched hollow-chamfered outer and inner doorways with pointed side-lights.

Interior

The interior comprises a five-bay nave arcade to north and south with moulded pointed arches, octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases, all of 19th-century date. The west tower arch is of 14th-century date with doubly-hollow-chamfered pointed form, springing from 19th-century engaged columns with scalloped capitals. The east tower arch is similar, featuring a roll-and-fillet hoodmould with carved heads to label stops, springing from engaged semi-octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases corbelled out from the wall. The north tower arch is hollow-chamfered and pointed, of 14th-century date, springing from engaged columns with moulded capitals and bases set in a continuous doubly-hollow-chamfered outer order.

A tall two-light window of late 14th or early 15th-century date on the south side of the tower base has cinquefoil-headed lights. A small blocked east window and possibly a blocked west window sit higher in the tower. North aisle windows feature ashlared concave architraves and moulded pointed rere-arches springing from slender engaged shafts with moulded capitals and bases.

A short narrow doorway with a rounded head of a single stone sits on the west end of the south wall of the tower. A blocked round-headed doorway with small even voussoirs stands beside it to the east. A moulded pointed-arched doorway opens to the east end of the south aisle. A blocked rectangular rood-loft doorway is visible in the east wall of the nave, south of the tower arch. The base of the stair turret, with a hollow-chamfered plinth, is visible from the south transept.

The nave has a 19th-century hammerbeam roof with boarded rafters. The chancel roof is of 19th-century date, constructed of collared common rafters with sous-laces, scissor-braces and ashlar-pieces. The aisles have flat roofs.

Fixtures and Fittings

A small pointed-arched aumbry sits at the south-east end of the nave. A piscina with a moulded ogee arch is located at the east end of the south wall of the chancel. Adjacent to the west of the piscina is a sedile with three shallow stepped seats under a broad pointed arch with engaged shafts with bell capitals and bases. A blocked hollow-chamfered four-centred arched opening is present on the north side of the east wall of the tower base.

Monuments

The chancel contains several monuments of note. A cartouche on the north wall commemorates Barnham Powell, died 1695; it is draped with arms to top and bottom and a cherub's head to the base. A tablet in white marble to Richard Savage, died 1772, features a moulded plinth over a fluted base-plate, palm branches to side panels, and a moulded cornice surmounted by two coats of arms and a grey urn. A raised black marble inscription panel is signed by R. Chambers.

A small tablet at the east end of the north wall of the north aisle has a moulded plinth and cornice with a lower frieze beneath the plinth containing three roses in relief. The scrolled base-plate has moulded pendants and a shield, with finely-carved finials above the cornice and a coat of arms surmounted by a small urn. The entire surface is covered with intricate damask patterning. An adjacent tablet to Wotton (?) features a moulded and consoled plinth, a base-plate with text, unfluted Corinthian pilasters carrying a moulded frieze with text, and finials and coats of arms. The inscription appears on two recessed black marble panels in a moulded surround.

Two busts set high in the south wall of the north aisle towards the east end form part of a monument to Sir Francis Barnham, died 1634, by the sculptor Nicholas Stone. A standing monument at the west end of the nave to Sir Christopher Powell, died 1742, features white marble figures in Roman dress: Sir Christopher reclining on a black sarcophagus, flanked by his mother and wife. The inscription is on a grey and white marble plinth beneath the figures. This monument is by Peter Scheemakers.