Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a parish church located in Hinton St Mary, with its west tower dating from the 15th century and the remainder of the church built in 1846 by William Oborne. The building is constructed from coursed, squared rubble and ashlar, featuring stone-slated, gable-ended roofs with stone copings. The layout includes a nave, chancel, west tower, south porch, and north vestry, showcasing both medieval and 19th-century work in the perpendicular style.

The west tower has two stages and an embattled parapet, with weathered strings and a chamfered plinth. The west doorway is moulded and has a 2-centred arch with a returned label. Above this is a 19th-century, 2-light window with vertical tracery and a returned label. The north wall features a rectangular loop, while the upper stage has two 2-centred, 2-light blind tracery windows with labels that terminate in head stops. The tower is adorned with angle pilasters, crocketted corner finials, and gargoyles, with lower strings displaying corner angels holding blank shields.

The nave windows are 3-light with square heads and returned labels, and the north and south chancel windows are 2-centred with 2-lights and returned labels. The vestry windows are similar to those in the chancel, while the east chancel window consists of 3-lights under a 2-centred head with a label terminating in head stops. The south chancel doorway is square-headed, and the vestry doorway is 2-centred and chamfered. The south porch doorway has a 2-centred, chamfered head with a returned label.

Internally, there is a near semi-circular chancel arch, likely made from reworked medieval material, featuring two orders with shafted jambs and capitals. The tower arch is segmental pointed with two chamfered orders that die into plain responds. The church has king post roofs and an 18th-century mahogany veneered pulpit with fielded panelling. A round, tapering bowl stone font from the 13th century sits on a cylindrical stem and circular base. There are monuments from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, including a notable one for Thomas Freke from 1642, which features a broken pediment supported by Corinthian columns with a skull below. Other fittings are mainly from the 19th century.