Church Of St Peter

Church of St. Peter

Parish church of the 13th century, with 15th-century work to the top stage of the tower, entrance to the porch, and other features. The building was restored in 1897 by C.E. Ponting. It is constructed of coursed limestone rubble, with the tower built of coursed sandstone and limestone rubble with limestone quoins. Stone tiled roof covers the nave and chancel with raised coped verges and cross finials to the east of both. The chancel roof is of plain tiles. The church comprises a nave, chancel, south porch, south tower, and south chancel chapel, and combines Early English and Perpendicular architectural styles.

The west elevation of the nave features a three-light restored Perpendicular window with chamfered surround, and a blocked door with Tudor-arched head, hollow-chamfered surround and carved spandrels. The north elevation has a three-light window with chamfered mullions and leaded lights, a blocked door with pointed arched head and chamfered surround, and a small carved female head above. A plinth, timber wall-plate and buttress to the west are also present. The south elevation has a window with leaded lights, chamfered surround and hood mould.

The gabled porch has a pointed arched door within a surround of two hollow-chamfered orders, and a studded double door with stopped hood mould.

The four-stage tower is built of banded sandstone rubble and limestone freestone. The first stage has a small door and a two-light window above with trefoil heads, leaded lights and hood mould. The second stage contains a 20th-century window with hood mould. The third stage has a pointed arched lancet with pierced stone tracery and hood mould. The fourth stage displays a three-light Perpendicular window with similar tracery in its upper sections. An embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles crowns the tower. A polygonal stair turret to the west of the tower features lancets, a brattished stone wall plate below a pyramidal cap and finial, and single quinquefoil headed lights to each side at the fourth stage with pierced stone tracery. String courses and buttresses run along the south side.

The chancel has a tall two-light window with trefoil heads, leaded lights and hood mould, a blocked priest's door with pointed arch and chamfered surround, and a restored window. The chapel contains two south windows of two lights with trefoil heads and hood moulds, and a restored Perpendicular three-light east window with cusped tracery and stopped hood mould.

Interior

The four-bay nave has a common rafter roof with arched-braces and principal arched-braces rising from corbels below a brattished wall-plate. A plain wall-plate marks the tower crossing. Collars and a moulded collar-purlin with bosses complete the roof structure. North and south windows occupy deep splayed reveals. The west door is blocked flush with the wall. The north door is blocked with a chamfered pointed segmental arch, and a pointed arch marks a former door. A heavy door to the porch has a pointed arch and large horizontal fillets, with a chamfered segmental head to the inner arch. A pointed arch to the tower has its inner east side rising from a corbel. The restored pointed chancel arch has jamb shafts with moulded capitals serving as imposts for the inner arch, with a squint to the north.

The chancel has a scissors truss roof. Two north windows feature pointed segmental rere-arches, with restoration to the west. A plain recess accommodates the blocked priest's door. A 15th-century arch to the chapel has elaborate stone panelling on its soffit and a pair of image brackets in its east jamb. Smaller similar stonework surmounts a 15th-century chest tomb of John Codrington, dated 1475, with enriched quatrefoils carved on panels round the sides. The chapel's east wall bears a 15th-century corbel carved as an angel to support an image, and a piscina in the south wall with hollow-chamfered and moulded surround to the east window. The arch between chapel and tower features Early English corbelled shafts and a relieving arch, with a pointed segmental-headed rere-arch to the south door and relieving arch. A narrow studded door to the stair turret has a chamfered surround and tall relieving arch.

The porch has a two-bay roof matching that of the nave. Stone benches with shaft bases with broach stops sit to the right. The heavy studded door features strap hinges and a chamfered pointed arch, with compass pattern scratch marking on the jamb of the door to the right.

Fittings

A Perpendicular octagonal bowl font with quatrefoils stands in the nave. Stuart Royal Arms dated 1666-89 hang in the nave, alongside a coat of arms in a carved wooden surround. Seventeenth-century carved wooden furnishings include two sanctuary chairs in the nave and chancel, two lecterns in the chapel and nave, a panelled chest in the chancel, a communion rail, a holy table, a panelled reredos incorporating shields of arms and panelling to the north of the chancel, and a pulpit in the nave incorporating pieces of 17th-century carving including the head of a putto. A painted stone tablet in the nave commemorates Thomas Hooper, dated 1675, with a skull and crossed bones. A marble tablet in the chancel to Richard Oseland, dated 1769, was created by S.T. Emmett.