Church Of St Petrock

The Church of St Petrock is a parish church, likely with a core dating to the 14th century, and significantly remodelled in the 15th century. A west tower was added in the mid-15th century, and a north aisle in the late 15th or early 16th century. The church was re-roofed in 1842, and a major restoration took place in 1879 by William White.

It is constructed of unrendered stone rubble, with the tower built of roughly coursed stone. The roofs are slate, with clay ridge tiles and gable ends. The building comprises a west tower, nave, north aisle, chancel, and a south porch.

The west tower is of two stages, with diagonal buttresses, an embattled parapet, and a polygonal stair turret to the north-east. There are cusped-headed two-light bell openings to each face, and a statue niche on the south side. The west window is of three lights in a Perpendicular style, above a pointed arched doorway with a moulded surround described by Pevsner as ‘B’ type. The nave, chancel, and north aisle feature 19th-century Decorated style windows of three and four lights to the nave, two and single lights to the south side of the chancel, three lights to the east end of the north aisle, and three of two lights to the north side of the aisle. The gabled south porch has 19th-century shaped bargeboards and a two-leaf outer door. The interior of the porch features a wagon roof with curved motifs along the crenellated wall plate and curved bosses at the intersections of the ribs. The pointed arched inner doorway has an original ledged plank door with an old lock and iron handle.

The church interior has 19th-century roofs throughout. The nave has a crown-post roof, and the north aisle is arch-braced. The north aisle arcade has four bays with Pevsner ‘A’ type piers and standard leaf capitals. A bay was added to the chancel in the 19th century. A 14th-century ogee-headed piscina is located in the south wall of the chancel. An altar table and reredos were added in 1879. The tiled floors retain some late medieval tiles, particularly in the north aisle. A 19th-century pulpit is also present. Three 16th-century benches survive to the rear of the nave, featuring elaborately carved bench ends. A tall wave-moulded 15th-century tower arch leads to the tower. A unique tower arch screen has been constructed from a hollow-chamfered ceiling beam re-used as a headrail, with its joists, featuring run-out stops, forming the muntins; these timbers are said to have come from a chapel near Town Farm, West Anstey, demolished in the 19th century. The beam and joists are decorated with chevron and patterned designs. Fragments of medieval stained glass survive in the south chancel window, while the remainder of the windows contain 19th-century coloured glass. A 12th-century font, with a lead-lined circular bowl featuring thick cable moulding, a palmette design, and dog-tooth patterning, is also present.