Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is an Anglican parish church located in Winterbourne Stoke. It largely dates to the late 12th century, with significant alterations and rebuilds in the 13th, 15th, and early 19th centuries. The church is primarily constructed of flint with dispersed limestone and stone quoins, with the chancel built of yellow brick. It has tiled roofs and a cruciform plan, comprising a 12th-century nave, 13th-century north and south transept chapels across the crossing, and a completely rebuilt early 19th-century chancel with a lean-to south organ recess.

The nave features windows with intersecting tracery, set in recessed panels. A 15th-century four-light panel tracery west window incorporates a blocked door. A gabled, 19th-century north porch has a stone slab roof carved as barge boards. A blocked west door is also present. The north chapel was largely rebuilt in the 19th century, mirroring the style of the other windows at two lights. A two-stage, 15th-century central tower features 2-light openings with hoodmoulds to the bell chamber, a crenellated parapet, corner gargoyles, and blocked lights on the north and south sides. Pilaster buttresses are located at the west end.

The 12th-century north internal door retains two orders; the outer order displays double chevron and diaper carving, while the inner order has carved squares and rings. A carved springer is present, along with nook shafts – one with a volute capital on the west and a monster capital on the east – and consecration crosses on the jambs. A blocked 12th-century south door has a zig-zag order and a bowtell. Nook shafts to carved capitals are missing. A scratch ring is partially preserved on a monolithic lintel, with the other half built into the west buttress, along with two mass dials.

The interior has a plastered nave with stone flags and a brick floor. C15 encaustic tiles are set around the front. A boarded barrel vault covers the nave, supported by inclined truss posts. Traces of painting are visible on the inner jamb stones of the north door. A section of the south wall, towards the crossing, shows jamb stones likely remaining from a contraction of an original square, 13th-century tower to a rectangular shape. The nave and chancel arches are late 13th century, featuring three uninterrupted chamfered orders. The north and south crossing arches are earlier 13th century, built on round capitals and nook shafts. The north transept, now a vestry, and the south transept chapel have a low-set piscina. The chancel is raised two steps and has an angled boarded vault, with a reset trefoiled piscina and aumbry. A carved stone reredos is set between the mullions of the east window.

The church contains a 12th-century font with a plain stone bowl on a moulded base and a 17th-century painted cover with shaped brackets to clustered centre columns. A fine, free-standing, 17th-century carved octagonal pulpit sits under the crossing, using an original columned base. An organ by Walker of London is also present. Some 17th-century simple panelled pews are located on either side of the font, with the remaining pews replicated in the 19th century. There are no monuments. Other furnishings include three coffin stools, a wheeled bier with brass rails, and a late 18th-century parish chest. The nave windows contain four early 19th-century painted depictions of saints and the Virgin, while the east window dates from 1909.