Parish Church Of St Peter

The Parish Church of St Peter is a building of group value, dating back to the 13th century with significant additions and alterations made across the centuries. The chancel is from the 13th century, the nave, north transept, tower, and south porch from the 15th century, the south transept from the 18th century, and a south aisle and vestry from the 19th century. The chancel was restored in 1841, and the 1863 restoration, overseen by Hicks, saw considerable alterations to the south transept.

The church is constructed of rubble-stone and flint walls with ashlar dressings, topped with clay tile roofs. The chancel, of three bays, has 19th-century buttressing. Its east window features three graduated lancets with moulded labels and rere-arches; the splays are flanked by Purbeck marble shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The north wall formerly featured three 13th-century lancets, the two eastern ones altered around 1400. These windows possess shafted splays, moulded segmental-pointed rere-arches and labels, continued along the wall as a string. The south wall has three windows also from the 13th century, similarly treated and altered around 1400 to become windows with two trefoiled lights in square heads. A 13th-century doorway, with chamfered jambs, a two-centred head, and a label, is also present on the south wall.

The nave underwent a drastic restoration in 1863. The north wall now has a 19th-century archway to the north transept and two two-light windows. A blocked 15th-century north doorway has chamfered jambs and a four-centred head. The south wall includes a 19th-century arcade, a doorway to the porch, and a two-light window to the west. The north transept has a 19th-century three-light window. The south porch, originally from the 15th century, was completely restored and now has a 19th-century outer archway.

The West Tower, also from the 15th century, stands three stories high and features a plain parapet and gargoyles, with diagonal and square buttresses. The west doorway has moulded jambs and a four-centred head. The west window is composed of two trefoiled lights with tracery within a two-centred head, embellished with a label and head-stops. A single square-headed light is located on the second stage of the west wall. The bell-chamber has windows of two trefoiled lights and blind tracery in a square head with a label on each wall. The south transept has a 19th-century three-light south window. A south aisle was inserted between the transept and the porch.

Inside, the nave roof is supported by good 19th-century carved stone corbels, and features four bays of arch-braced collar trusses with splayed Y-strutting. The chancel roof is of a 19th-century crown-post design. The chancel arch is also from the 19th century. Notable fittings include a 13th-century piscina with moulded jambs and a square head, partially blocked and without a drain. Monuments include a white marble wall tablet by Lester, Dorchester, to Joseph Symes (1830) and Elizabeth his wife (1852), a stone tablet dated 1677 to John Hurding and a freestone tablet with side-columns, cornice, cherubs, and emblems of mortality, dated 1697, to Mary ….