Church of St Peter

Church of St Peter, Fugglestone

This small village church is mainly of the 13th century, with a bellcote added probably in the 15th century. It is constructed of mixed rubble and freestone, with some flint, and roofed in clay tiles.

The church comprises a small three-bay nave with a narrower chancel. On the south side are a very narrow aisle, porch and vestry, and a small west gallery.

The nave is of mixed rubble stone while the chancel is of freestone. The west gable carries a short octagonal bellcote of the 15th century, decorated with a frill of brattishing and a stone spirelet. Below the bellcote, on the outer face of the west wall, is a heavy projecting round-headed arch, presumably added buttressing to support the weight of the stone bellcote. The masonry joins at the nave angles and the continuous string-course low down make it clear that the west wall was entirely rebuilt, probably when the bellcote was added. The west window is a two-centred opening with two plain mullions running right into the head of the arch, unrelieved by tracery or cusping; the date of these mullions is uncertain.

The buttressed north wall of the nave has two windows with timber Y-tracery, possibly dating to around 1780-1810. The chancel has three uncusped lancets on the north side. The east window is a triple-stepped lancet with narrow shafts, typical of the Early English style, though almost certainly renewed. On the south side, a small lean-to vestry stands against the chancel, probably from the mid-19th century, while the aisle and brick south porch are painted. The aisle contains one window with timber tracery of two four-headed arched lights, perhaps dating to around 1800-30. At the south-west corner of the nave is a heavy projecting buttress, clearly contemporary with the 15th century west wall. This may have formed the west wall of a broader medieval south aisle, replaced by the present narrow one perhaps in the late 18th or early 19th century, dates which would correspond with those of the porch and window.

Interior

The walls are rendered and whitewashed throughout. Two broad chamfered arches, probably of the 13th or early 14th century, lead into the south aisle, now only wide enough for two pews facing across the church. The piers are square with a slight chamfer. The size of these arches suggests a larger medieval aisle. The ceiling is plastered, probably dating to the 18th or 19th century. The chancel arch also appears to be of plaster and is moulded with a four-centred opening, perhaps dating to around 1800-30. The nave floor is of stone flags with pews set on oak-planked platforms. Black-and-red quarry tiles pave the chancel. At the east end of the south aisle, the remains of an access and steps to a rood loft are visible in the wall towards the chancel arch; the north face of the opening has been bricked up. A small trefoil-headed piscina and credence shelf have been inserted in the south wall of the chancel, interrupting the line of the window opening. The door between chancel and vestry, originally an outside door, has on its outer face a good medieval hoodmould with headstops.

Principal Fixtures

The communion rail with turned balusters is in the style of around 1700, but the new-looking oak and inauthentic flat-topped profile of the hand rail suggest it may be a late 19th century imitation, comparable to work by C.E. Ponting at St Andrew, Bemerton. A late 18th century stone font has a gadrooned and moulded bowl on a stem of inverted pear shape. The chancel stalls are of pine, with panelled and buttressed fronts, and possibly come from the restoration of 1848. The pulpit, reading desk and box-pews are all of oak with cusped blind arches (cusped square panelling on the pulpit) and perhaps date to the early 19th century. The dados for the pews are made up of reused 17th century oak with patterned friezes of fan motifs, reused from the former pews and bearing marks of door hinges. The gallery stands on cast-iron columns and has cusped blind arcading on the front, similar to the pews. Some of the gallery benches may date to the 18th century. The east window contains good stained glass of around 1852. A small organ on the gallery has a Gothic case of 1850. The church has no electricity and is remarkably still lit only by gas, using original Victorian fittings including wall brackets and several gasoliers, one of which in the chancel has decorative turquoise enamelling.

In the sanctuary is a small Purbeck marble coffin lid with an effigy in relief of a woman with her arms crossed over her chest, reportedly the matron of the leprosy hospital of St Giles, about a quarter mile to the east, probably founded in 1135. The nave contains a marble tablet to Martha Wansborough, died 1767, with a broken pediment. Above the chancel arch are painted Royal arms of George III.

History

A church at Fugglestone is first mentioned in 1291, though it may well have existed at least a few years before that, since the chapel of St Andrew, Bemerton, which was probably always a dependent of Fugglestone, existed by at least 1287. St Peter shows no trace of Norman work, and its earliest features appear to be 13th century. It was administered as a single parish with Bemerton until 1649, when it was recommended that Bemerton be made a separate parish. Although separate vestries, churchwardens and registers were established by 1654 and continued until recent times, the split was never formally implemented. The extant 17th century panelling in the church indicates a major refitting with box pews, perhaps during the incumbency of George Herbert from 1630 to 1633, who undertook similar work to dignify St Andrew, Bemerton. By the 19th century the settlement of Fugglestone had shrunk almost to nothing. Several phases of restoration and refitting between around 1780 and 1900 are evident in the fabric, but none appears to have been adequately recorded. One reportedly took place in 1848. St John, Bemerton, built in 1859-61, became the main church of the parish, and since then St Peter has been used only for occasional services. This accounts for the survival of its gas lighting and the lack of significant changes since that time.