Church of St Peter and attached Radnor Mausoleum

Church of St Peter and attached Radnor Mausoleum

This is an Anglican parish church of 9th, 14th and 18th century date with significant restoration work undertaken in 1872–73 by G.E. Street. The church is constructed of flint and stone rubble with some chequer work, and has a tiled or lead roof with coped verges and cross finials. It follows a cruciform plan and includes a south porch and north vestry.

The south porch, built by Street in 1873, has a gabled roof and a pointed arched doorway with hood mould. The south side of the nave features three pairs of cusped lancet windows with a buttress positioned between the second and third bays. A small lean-to chapel of 1873 adjoins here, built when a Saxon arch was discovered inside; it has a tiled roof and a single lancet window. The south transept is lit by a three-light geometric-traceried window with a hood mould terminating in carved heads. The south side of the chancel has three pairs of cusped ogee-headed lancets, while the east end has diagonal buttresses and a three-light window with reticulated tracery and a hood mould with carved head terminals. The north side of the chancel has two pairs of cusped ogee-headed lancets and a projecting vestry of 1873 in the western bay, which features a two-light Decorated-style window in its gable. The north transept has a two-light geometric traceried window with hood mould. The north side of the nave has three pairs of cusped lancets and one buttress, with a small matching chapel of 1873 in the eastern bay containing a single lancet. The west wall was rebuilt in 1764 and reconstructed by Street in ashlar with diagonal buttresses and a three-light window with geometric tracery and hood mould. A square tower over the crossing, dating from 1764, is constructed in ashlar with a band at eaves level, plain chamfered pointed openings with louvres to the east, south and north, an oculus on the west face, a battlemented parapet and a pyramidal tiled roof.

Inside the church, a heavily moulded pointed arch spans the porch interior, the work of Street. Within the nave itself is a Saxon round arch in dressed stone forming a doorway. The nave has plain plastered walls with high windows featuring widely splayed openings. The shallow pitched roof is supported by tie-beams with king posts and raking struts. At the east end of the nave are two 8th or 9th century Saxon round arches belonging to former porticus flanking chambers; the northern arch is in dressed stone with fine vine scroll and interlaced carving to the jambs, while the southern arch is constructed in Roman tile with plain stone jambs. The crossing arches are double-chamfered, and the transepts have arch-braced collar truss roofs. The north transept contains an ogee-headed piscina and a pointed doorway to the vestry. The chancel has the same roof design as the transepts and features a pointed archway to the organ chamber. On the north wall is the tomb of Henry, Duke of Buckingham, dating to 1483, which features a reused crocketed ogee arch above it.

The church contains a number of notable fittings. A finely carved 17th century pulpit has been reset on a Victorian stone base in the crossing. Some medieval bench ends survive in the chancel, while the remainder of the pews are Victorian, with the exception of 18th century box pews in the south transept. Good early 19th century wall tablets are displayed in the north transept, including a marble tablet by Bacon to Richard Jervys who died in 1820, and another to Robert Morres who died in 1841 by Osmond of Sarum. The church contains fine 19th and early 20th century stained glass, notably in the south transept window, which was the work and gift of Helen, Countess of Radnor in 1929. The west window dates from 1882 and is by Ward and Hughes of London.

The Radnor Mausoleum is attached to the north-west corner of the north transept and dates from 1764, with alterations by Street in 1873. It has ashlar walls and a pitched roof. Carved arms of the Pleydell-Bouverie family appear on the east wall, executed by John Deval the Younger in 1779. All work of 1764 was funded by the 1st Earl of Radnor.