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

104390 738/7/1 HIGH WEST STREET 08-MAY-50 (North side) CHURCH OF ST PETER RAILINGS ON EAST AND SOUTH SIDES OF CHURCHYARD

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HIGH WEST STREET 1 . 5191 (North Side) Church of St Peter. Railings on east and south sides of churchyard SY 6990 7/1 8.5.50.

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2. Building in 1420/1. North and south chapels slightly later. Vestry and chancel added in 1856-7 by John Hicks and Thomas Hardy. C12 south doorway reset in C15 church. Hammer-dressed limestone with Ham stone ashlar dressings. Pitched stone slate roof to nave, tiles to chancel, lean-to over aisles. Moulded plinth and eaves cornices. Parapet to aisle roofs, crenellated along south side and around vestry. Buttress, with set-backs, very fine grotesques on the eaves cornice, and crocketed pinnacles placed diagonally above each buttress. Perpendicular tracery in all windows. Tower with moulded plinth, 2 strings, eaves cornice and crenellated parapet. Polygonal stair tower at north east corner. Angle buttresses with set backs, gargoyles at the eaves cornice and crocketed pinnacles placed diagonally above each. Upper stage has tall bell openings with transoms and Perpendicular tracery. Pitch-roofed porch to south doorway, which is a re-set pointed arch with 2 orders of zig-zag and 1 order of foliage. Many monuments of which the following are outstanding. 2 C14 effigies of recumbent knights (presumably reset) in window embrasures of south chapel. 1 C14 tomb chest (presumably reset) in chancel north wall; quartrefoil-panelled front, cusped ogee arched recess with flanking crocketed pinnacles. Sarcophagus of Sir John and Lady Williams of Herringstone (1617) in north chapel: canopy taken on Corinthian columns with mound arched centre. Semi-reclining effigy of Denzil, Lord Holles,in north aisle: gadrooned sarcophagus in curtained, aedicule flanked by weeping putti (similarities between this and the Strode monument of 1698 at Beaminster,and the Digby monument of 1698 at Sherborne suggest Nost as a possible sculptor). Jacobean wooden pulpit. Reredos (1894-7) by C E Ponting of Marlborough. Royal Arms with "CR" monogram under tower. Victorian benches and tiles in chancel. Iron railings and gates with spear finials and elaborate open-work iron piers.

Nos 48 to 65A (consec) including the Shire Hall, Holy Trinity Church, the Museum, St Peter's Church and Monument to William Barnes in church yard immediately south of West Tower form a group.

Listing NGR: SY6925290750