Church Of St Peter. Railings On East And South Sides Of Churchyard

The Church of St Peter is a parish church largely dating to around 1420, with the north and south chapels added slightly later. A vestry and chancel were added in 1856-7 by John Hicks and Thomas Hardy. The church is constructed of hammer-dressed limestone with Ham stone ashlar dressings, and has a pitched stone slate roof to the nave and tiles to the chancel, with a lean-to roof over the aisles. A moulded plinth and eaves cornices run along the exterior. The aisle roofs have a parapet, crenellated along the south side and around the vestry. There are prominent buttresses with set-backs, featuring very fine grotesques on the eaves cornice and crocketed pinnacles placed diagonally above each. Perpendicular tracery is found in all the windows.

The tower has a moulded plinth, two strings, an eaves cornice and crenellated parapet. A polygonal stair tower is located at the north-east corner, featuring angle buttresses with set-backs, gargoyles at the eaves cornice and crocketed pinnacles above. The upper stage of the tower has tall bell openings with transoms and Perpendicular tracery. A pitched-roof porch fronts the south doorway, which is a reset pointed arch with two orders of zig-zag and one order of foliage decoration.

Inside, notable monuments include two 14th-century effigies of recumbent knights, presumed to have been reset, in the window embrasures of the south chapel. A 14th-century tomb chest, also believed to be reset, is set into the north wall of the chancel, featuring a quatrefoil-panelled front and a cusped ogee arched recess with flanking crocketed pinnacles. The sarcophagus of Sir John and Lady Williams of Herringstone (dated 1617) is in the north chapel, featuring a canopy supported on Corinthian columns with a round-arched centre. The semi-reclining effigy of Denzil, Lord Holles, is located in the north aisle, set on a gadrooned sarcophagus within a curtained aedicule flanked by weeping putti. The style of this monument, sharing similarities with monuments at Beaminster and Sherborne, suggests Nost as a possible sculptor. A Jacobean wooden pulpit stands within the church, and a reredos (dating to 1894-7) was designed by C E Ponting of Marlborough. The Royal Arms, bearing the "CR" monogram, are located beneath the tower. Victorian benches and tiles are present in the chancel.

The churchyard is enclosed by iron railings and gates featuring spear finials and elaborate open-work iron piers.

The church is part of a group that includes numbers 48 to 65A (consec), the Shire Hall, Holy Trinity Church, the Museum, and a monument to William Barnes in the churchyard immediately south of the West Tower.