Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a parish church with Romanesque origins, significantly altered over several centuries. The chancel and north transept date to the Romanesque period, while the late 12th century Transitional south transept and south aisle were added later. The nave and north aisle are Early English/Decorated in style, with a 14th century Perpendicular clerestory and a west tower. The south porch was rebuilt in 1825. The church is constructed from regular ironstone rubble with ashlar detailing, all set beneath a lead roof.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, north transept, north aisle, a south transept adjoined to the south aisle, a west tower, and a south porch. The chancel features two round-headed Romanesque windows with hood moulds and stops on both north and south walls. The north aisle has two-light Decorated windows. The east window of the chancel is curvilinear. The south aisle windows incorporate intersecting and curvilinear tracery featuring triangular shapes in their heads. The north transept has a Perpendicular window, and the clerestory above the chancel arch includes a five-light window. The west tower is of four stages, topped with an embattled parapet, eight pinnacles, and gargoyles, and features a west doorway with a square hood mould incorporating quatrefoils in the spandrels. Pilaster buttresses and a string course accentuate the Romanesque chancel.

Blocked doorways are present in the east wall of the north transept, the south wall of the chancel, and the north wall of the north aisle, the latter including blocked jambs, imposts, and a tympanum of a Romanesque doorway. A 13th-century doorway is located on the south side, featuring two orders of roll moulding, jamb shafts, and capitals carved with bunched leaves.

Inside, the nave has a blocked staircase leading to a rood, and a north arcade composed of three bays with short octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. The fourth bay is a later addition, incorporating a high arch to the transept. The south aisle features tall octagonal piers and a Perpendicular opening to the transept. The east chancel arch retains imposts from the older arch. The chancel contains a double piscina and a two-seat sedilia in the south wall, along with a round-headed niche in the east wall and another in the north wall, the latter formerly serving as a doorway.

Notable fittings include a Romanesque font with carved figures including Adam and Eve and the signs of the zodiac, and an 1882 pulpit. Wall paintings from the 15th century are located over the chancel arch, and a 14th-century fragment exists over the south arcade. Stained glass in the east window dates to 1881 and was created by Ward and Hughes; the south aisle’s east window is potentially by Morris. Monuments include a 1568 monument to John Croker in the north transept, one to Anne, wife of Thomas Wise, dated 1703, part of an Elizabethan tomb, and a large stone with a matrix. Nave memorials and a floor stone commemorate the Lampet family from 1781 to 1858.