Church Of St Peter Including Gate Piers,Gates And Retaining Wall At East And West Ends

The Church of St Peter is an Anglican parish church located on Highfield Road in Ilfracombe, built in 1902 by architect GH Fellowes-Prynne. The church is constructed from rough-faced, squared stone rubble, with dressed limestone details and quoins, likely made from Bath stone. It features a red tiled roof adorned with some decorative ridge tiles.

The layout includes a nave, aisles, chancel, and a south chancel chapel, along with shallow north and south transepts. At the west end of the north aisle, there is a tower and entrance porch. A north chancel chapel that was originally part of the design has since been demolished. The church showcases a variety of medieval architectural styles, ranging from Norman to Perpendicular.

Prominent features on the north front, which faces Highfield Road, include a pair of gables on the transept, each featuring a 3-light traceried window. The tower is a square structure with two stages and large angle-buttresses, although it was never completed. The entrance has a doorway with a carved wooden canopy supported by stone angles, and a figure of St Peter is positioned in a niche above. The east and west ends of the church are highlighted by 5-light traceried windows, and the foundation stone beneath the west window is inscribed with the date and the architect's name.

Inside, the church has nave arcades supported by Norman columns with twisted fluting on the shafts, which lead to pointed, double-chamfered arches. A low, carved stone chancel screen is present, along with an organ housed in a Gothic casing. The interior also features well-crafted choir stalls, a pulpit designed by Florence Heaton Toller in 1903, and a font made of limestone with columns of red and green marble.

In addition to the church, there are subsidiary features at each end of the front curtilage wall. These include pairs of square stone rubble gate piers topped with lumps of quartz. The western piers are fitted with iron gates that feature scrollwork and the keys of St Peter, while the eastern piers have wooden gateposts with gabled tops and crosses in round panels. At both the east and west ends of the curtilage, retaining walls made of slatestone are arranged in tiers and laid in a herringbone pattern, extending north onto the Highfield Road frontage.