Parish Church Of St Peter

The parish church of St Peter largely dates to the 14th century, with significant alterations and additions in the early 15th, late 15th, and 17th centuries. It is constructed of rubble stone with freestone dressings and has slate roofs with stone gable copings.

The nave retains its 14th-century structure. The north wall has a three-light window with cinquefoiled lights and pierced spandrels in a square head, with moulded reveals. A 20th-century blocking sits further west. The north doorway, also 14th century, has a two-centred head and continuously moulded jambs. The south wall contains two windows, the eastern one similar to the north window, while the western one has a replaced flat lintel. The south doorway is now blocked and has a segmental pointed head and continuously moulded jambs. The chancel, rebuilt in the early 15th century, is structurally undivided from the nave, featuring a 20th-century east window. The north wall has an early 15th-century window of two trefoiled lights with a square head and chamfered segmental pointed rear arch. The south wall displays a late 15th-century window of three cinquefoiled lights in a square head with moulded reveals.

The late 15th-century west tower has two stages and an embattled parapet. A partly restored west window features three cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a pointed head, moulded reveals, and a label. A 19th-century porch on the north side provides access for bellringers. The bell chamber has square-headed windows on all four sides.

Inside, the church contains a probably 14th-century font consisting of an octagonal Ham stone bowl with a chamfered underside, on an octagonal Portland stem and square base with spurs. The oak pulpit, dated 1624 and bearing the initials I.M., has a dentilled cornice, two heights of enriched arcaded panels, and a 20th-century base. A screen between the chancel and nave has a central doorway and seven bays on either side, with a moulded cornice adorned with vine ornament and a restored painted inscription. Side bays feature linen fold lower panels and open upper panels with 20th-century tracery, while the double doors are 16th-century reframed and largely reconstructed. The early 17th-century communion rails are arcaded, featuring turned and moulded pillars supporting enriched semi-circular arches under a moulded capping. The 17th-century north doorway is divided into vertical panels by moulded battens, with rails studded with drop handles and strap hinges with fleur-de-lys ends.

Several stone monuments are located in the chancel and nave, including an altar tomb to John Meller and his wife Anne (1610/11), and another to Dorothy (Baylie), wife of Robert Miller (1591). 19th-century stone tablets commemorate Hon Lionel Damer, son of the first Earl of Dorchester (1807), signed J Browne, London, 1839.