Church of St Peter and St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul

This Grade I listed church at Wantage is a cruciform building of late 13th-century origin, substantially modified and extended through the 15th century and in the Victorian period. The church underwent major restoration by the architect G.E. Street in 1857, and was extended one bay to the west by W. Butterfield in 1877.

The exterior is constructed of coursed and random limestone rubble, with limestone ashlar applied to the 15th-century north and south chapels. The roof is of sheet metal, with stone slates to the transepts. The cruciform plan features a tower above the crossing. The chancel, which was extended in the 15th century, has offset corner buttresses. Its south wall contains a 15th-century four-centred moulded blocked doorway and a 15th-century three-light window, matching features on the north wall. G.E. Street heightened the chancel and inserted clerestory windows in the late 13th-century style. The geometrical style east window dates from Street's restoration of around 1857.

The north chapel of the chancel has 15th-century offset buttresses, one 15th-century two-light window and two 15th-century three-light square-headed windows, along with a mid-19th-century inserted pointed roll-moulded doorway. The south chapel has similar windows without label moulds, with gargoyles to the parapet.

The south transept has a pointed moulded doorway of around 1877, offset buttresses, and a left angle buttress bearing a mid-18th-century wall tablet. The west wall contains a 13th-century lancet and a four-light late 13th-century style south window from Street's 1857 work. An adjoining chapel to the east has one 15th-century two-light and one 15th-century three-light window, with the parapet continuing through to the south chapel. The north transept has offset corner buttresses with hood moulds over a 15th-century three-light north window and two-light east window.

The north wall of the nave has pointed arches over two 15th-century four-light windows. A 15th-century sacristy projects from this wall, featuring a quatrefoil window and a chamfered four-centred window to the east, a label mould over a mid-19th-century three-light north window in 15th-century style, and a one-light window adjoining a 15th-century chamfered square-headed west doorway. The south wall of the nave has similar aisle and clerestory windows and a mid-18th-century wall tablet to the east.

A 15th-century porch was relocated from its original central position to the west end by Butterfield in 1877, with its 15th-century south doorway featuring carved leaf spandrels and a 15th-century ribbed door being reset. The west wall of the nave was rebuilt by Butterfield in 1877 and contains 15th-century style four-light windows to the aisles, offset buttresses, and two reset late 13th-century two-light transomed windows. The tower over the crossing has late 13th-century two-light windows, a polygonal stair-turret to the south-west, and a corbel table supporting the crenellated parapet. The building has a gabled roof, except for the lean-to roofs of the aisle and chapel.

Interior

The chancel contains a fine reredos, Minton tile floor, altar rail and benches all dating from around 1857. Late 14th-century stalls with carved bench-ends and misericord carvings are present, as is an alabaster effigy of Sir William Fitzwarin, who died in 1361, and his wife, now without the canopy that originally framed them. A 13th-century piscina is preserved in the chancel, along with a wall monument to William Wilmot (died 1684), which is signed by William Bird of Oxford. The north wall features a four-centred moulded doorway with a 15th-century ribbed door and an aedicule with a scrolled pediment framing a wall tablet dated 1621. A six-bay arch-braced collar-truss roof from around 1857 spans above the clerestory inserted by Street.

The south chapel has a 15th-century two-bay arcade and a 15th-century screen and door with one-light cinquefoil-headed divisions. Two 15th-century piscinas are found in this chapel, along with early 19th-century and 18th-century wall tablets.

The south transept features a late 13th-century two-bay arcade and screen from around 1857, with mid-19th-century pews. Its roof is a late 14th-century four-bay arch-braced collar-truss with carved bosses, a collar purl and cornices.

The north wall of the chancel has a 15th-century two-bay arcade and 15th-century screen and door with one-light cinquefoil-headed divisions opening to the north chapel. This chapel contains wall brasses to William Willmott (died 1621) and to a priest from around 1330, and has a 15th-century lean-to roof. The north transept contains a 13th-century south respond with stiff-leaf capitals and a 15th-century two-bay arcade. Wall brasses here commemorate Sir Ives Fitzwarin (1414) and a 15th-century priest, with wall tablets to John Stevens (died 1750) and Edward Moulden (died 1744). The roof is of similar four-bay design to the south transept.

The crossing features late 13th-century triple-chamfered arches resting on clustered columns. The nave contains mid-19th-century pews and a pulpit from 1857, possibly by G.E. Street, together with a chandelier dated 1711, described by Pevsner as "splendid". The nave arcade is of late 13th-century date and was extended one bay to the west around 1857. A 15th-century nine-bay hammerbeam roof on carved corbels was extended westward by two bays around 1857. The north aisle contains a 15th-century piscina.

The south aisle has an octagonal font with cover possibly by Street, wall tablets to John Watson (died 1784) and John Stamp (died 1729) and his wife, the latter signed by John Townsend Jun., and a brass to Walter Talbot (died 1522) and two of his wives. The aisle has a mid-19th-century lean-to roof. Mid to late 19th-century stained glass includes a 15th-century representation of St Stephen in the west lancet window of the south transept, along with heraldic shields.

The south chapel of the chancel was given as a chantry in the mid-15th century by the Trades Guilds of Wantage and was restored in the late 19th century in memory of Reverend W.J. Butler. The north chapel of the chancel was the chantry chapel of the Fitzwarin family.