Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a parish church with a 15th-century tower and a largely rebuilt nave dating from 1838, designed by Richard Shackleton Pope of Bristol. The church underwent restoration in 1882 by Edward Ashworth, primarily to the chancel, with further work in 1903 and 1905 by E Buckle. A reseating scheme was undertaken in 1923 by Harbottle Reed. The church is constructed from stone rubble with a slate roof. The plan incorporates a Perpendicular tower, a large rectangular nave built in the “carpenters gothic” style, a shallow chancel, a west tower, a south-east vestry, and a south porch.

The exterior features a 15th-century battlemented tower with corner obelisk pinnacles, diagonal buttresses and a three-sided north-east stair turret which awkwardly abuts the nave. A small two-centred west doorway, likely reconstructed in 1838, is accompanied by three-light Perpendicular west windows using medieval volcanic stonework. Belfry openings are two-light. The gabled chancel has diagonal buttresses and a tall three-light 19th-century Perpendicular east window. The five-bay nave is buttressed with tall three-light lancet windows and a tall gabled porch on the south side, incorporating a chamfered two-centred doorway with a stone inscription "AD 1838" in the gable.

The interior is large and well-lit, with plastered walls. The tower arch is chamfered with an inner chamfered order at the top, and the chancel arch rests on moulded corbels. Four 1838 tie beam roof trusses feature king posts and decorative cusped details. Furnishings are relatively plain, including a late 18th-century communion rail with barley sugar balusters, a circa 20th-century timber altar and reredos, a probably 19th-century octagonal font with blind quatrefoils, an 1882 timber drum pulpit, and a prayer desk made by Harry Hems of Exeter. There are numerous 18th and 19th-century wall monuments. One 17th-century monument commemorates Margrett and John Spurway, who died in 1691 and 1692, and features carved knotted curtains framing an inscription panel with a relief carving of a child. The west window is signed Heaton Butler and Bayne, circa 1905; the east window has a memorial date of 1871 and was likely made by William Wailes. A south window in the chancel displays an Art Nouveau design, and the easternmost window on the north side commemorates Major General John Spurway, who died in 1903, and was designed by Baron Arild Rose & Croix, with glass executed by either Tiffany or Lowndes and Drury.