Church Of St Peter

Parish church dating from the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The building has experienced a dramatic history of alteration and restoration. A porch sundial is dated 1695, and the tower west door is dated 1806. The church was restored in 1841 by Foster of Plymouth, when the old barrel ceiling was removed and the oak beams of the chancel were exposed. In 1876, a major restoration took place at a cost of £1300 and a new organ was installed. Disaster struck in 1877 when the church was destroyed by fire, with only the tower surviving. The building was rebuilt after 1877 in the Perpendicular style.

The structure is constructed of mixed slatestone coursed rubble with squared granite porch and granite dressings throughout. The roof is slate with raised coped verges, crestings and cross finials. The plan comprises a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, and chancel.

The three-stage west tower has weathered diagonal buttresses, plinth with moulded string courses, and a north-east polygonal stair tower with lancets. The parapet is embattled with 19th-century crocketted pinnacles. The west door has a two-centred arch with chamfered and hollow-chamfered surround, hood-mould and relieving arch. The door itself is 19th-century with strap hinges, and the date 1806 with initials IL are carved on the jamb. Above is a three-light pointed arched window with cusped heads, hood-mould and relieving arch. A second relieving arch above marks the position of a former two-light square-headed bell-opening with chamfered mullion, slate louvres and relieving arch.

The five-bay north aisle features four-light Perpendicular windows in each bay with four-centred arched heads, with two central lights taller than the others and cusped heads, all with hood-moulds. Weathered buttresses with undercut mouldings to set-offs support the walls. To the west is a door with roll-moulded architrave and hood-mould with square-cut carved stops, set within a recessed opening with foliage in the spandrels of the four-centred arch. To the east is a four-light window with Y-tracery, hood-mould and lancet above, and a polygonal stack.

The five-bay south aisle has four similar four-light windows to the left. To the right is an earlier window of finer moulding, with three lights and a taller central light, cusped heads and hood-mould. Below this is an ogee-head priest's door with hollow-chamfered and pyramid-stopped surround. The east end has a four-light window and lancet as on the north aisle, and a similar four-light west window.

A gable porch in the south-west bay of the south aisle has spandrels with a square hood-mould featuring quatrefoils on the stops. Above is a slate sundial with gnomon. Wrought iron gates guard the entrance. The porch interior has a pitched slate floor and an inner door opening similar to the outer. A 19th-century door with strap hinges (without hood-mould) leads within. The roof is constructed of principal rafters, arched braces, collars, collar purlin and wall plate.

The chancel has a five-light east window with lattice transom, panel tracery and through reticulation, cusped heads, hood-mould and lancet above, with a plinth below.

The interior tower has a deep splayed reveal to the west window and a ceiling in nine panels with the central panel larger. The floor matches that of the porch. A stone newel stair ascends within. The bellframe and bells are by John Warner and Son, London. The doorway to the stair is a pointed arch with chamfered surround and 19th-century strap hinges. A tall pointed tower arch with impost moulding opens into the nave.

The nave has a six-bay arcade with some redressed shafts remaining and four-centred arches with Pevsner A-type piers featuring shaft rings to capitals and bases. The roof is a 14-bay wagon roof extending over the chancel, with principal rafters, arched braces, one row of purlins, collar and moulded collar purlin, wall plate and carved wooden bosses at intersections.

The north aisle has a similar 12-bay roof. The north door has a four-centred arched chamfered surround with deep roll-moulding to the window surrounds. The east end serves as an organ chamber and vestry. The south aisle has a similar roof with a flat head to the priest's door.

The chancel contains two sedilia and a piscina to the south-east with ogee hood, cusped openings, finials and crocketted pinnacles, much of which has been restored. A 19th-century tiled reredos occupies the east end.

Fittings include 19th-century pews and pulpit; a carved and painted Royal Arms of George III in the north aisle; an organ by J.W. Walker and Sons, London, 1880; and a 19th-century octagonal granite font in the nave with octagonal stem and carved sides.

Monuments in the north aisle include a stone tablet with draped urn to John Bennett (1822) by J. Hooper of Plymouth; a marble tablet to William Weeks (1829) by Bovey and Co, Plymouth; and a stone monument to Hugh Fortescue (1650) and his wife Elizabeth, featuring demi-figures of the couple in two recessed niches with broken scrolled pediment and shield, inscription panel with verse, scrolls and shield below.

In the south aisle are an oval stone table to Arthur Tremayne (1808); a marble tablet to Revd William Cowlard (1844) by Bovey and Co; and a substantial Tremayne family monument dated 1588 and rebuilt by Arthur Tremayne in 1707. This latter monument features marble Corinthian columns on plinths with Tremayne shields, an inscription panel below with large shields to each side, and a plinth with five figures—two in armour and three civilians. Three panels above contain verses on the Tremayne family, with a border of carved foliage and flowers. The monument is surmounted by a segmental pediment with heads of putti, flowers and shields in the tympanum, and two reclining gilded angels with trumpets and shields above.

The east window of the chancel and two windows in the north aisle contain late 19th-century stained glass depicting scenes from the life of Christ.