Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter, Windrush

Anglican parish church of the 12th, 14th and 15th centuries, with the chancel restored in 1874 by Henry Woodyer. The building comprises a nave with a south aisle and chapel, a chancel with vestry and organ chamber on the north, and a west tower. The nave, south aisle, chapel and tower are built in coursed squared and dressed limestone, while the chancel, vestry and organ chamber are of ashlar. The roof is covered with stone slate.

The nave's north wall has a moulded plinth interrupted by a 19th-century plank door with decorative strap hinges set within a moulded four-centred arched surround, formerly with a gabled canopy. A small 15th-century two-light window with casement moulding and a stopped hood lights the clerestory above. Similar but larger two and three-light windows flank this opening, the left-hand window having a hood with scrolled stops. The parapet is moulded with a string course and three large carved head gargoyles.

The south aisle contains a 19th-century plank door with decorative hinges within a round-headed 12th-century surround decorated with a finely carved double row of beak heads. Single engaged columns on either side of the doorway have scalloped capitals with simple palmette decoration on the abaci, with the inner row of beak heads partly covering these columns. A shallow 20th-century gabled canopy is now above the door. To the left is a four-light 15th-century window within a rectangular casement-moulded surround with a stopped hood and moulded stone mullions. The left-hand return contains a small round-headed window with a flat-chamfered surround, now blocked with what is probably a 19th-century commemorative stone plaque to Thomas, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Jackson, at the bottom of the blocking. The aisle parapet has a moulded string.

The Hungerford Chapel projects forward to the right of the south door, with a moulded plinth. It has a three-light Decorated south window with a stopped hood and a sundial with metal gnomon above the window. The 19th-century organ chamber and vestry are set back to the right, with a plank door to the vestry within a moulded surround and single light windows on the south side. An east three-light window within a rectangular surround is also present.

The chancel has a flat-chamfered plinth with diagonal buttresses at the east end and a buttress on the north. A three-light 19th-century east window has Perpendicular-style tracery, and two 19th-century two-light windows with pointed surrounds are on the north side.

The three-stage tower has a moulded plinth with a moulded string approximately 0.5 metres above it. A blocked west doorway is surmounted by a two-light pointed window with simple blind Perpendicular tracery. A stair turret at the south-east corner is accessed externally via a 19th-century plank door up stone steps. Tall two-light belfry openings have stone slate louvres, blind Perpendicular tracery, and hoods with stops in the form of animal heads. The battlemented parapet has a moulded string with large animal head gargoyles. Stepped coping is present at the gable ends of the nave and chancel, and the remains of an upright cross finial are visible at the gable end of the chancel.

The interior has a five-bay nave with an aisle and the Hungerford Chapel on the south. The chancel includes an organ chamber and vestry on the south. The three-bay nave arcade, dating to around 1200, comprises cylindrical piers with moulded capitals and bases supporting pointed double-chamfered arches with hoods terminating in sheep's head terminals. A 12th-century chancel arch has ornate jamb shafts and scalloped capitals with sawtooth-decorated abaci; a slightly later pointed arch is above. A pointed arch with double casement moulding opens to the tower. A 19th-century pointed arch links the chancel to the organ chamber, with a 19th-century plank door to the left and 19th-century sedilia and piscina on the far left. A continuous hoodmould runs over all three openings. A 19th-century pointed arch connects the organ chamber to the Hungerford Chapel. A cinquefoil-headed piscina is set within the south transept.

The chancel has a trussed rafter roof. The nave has a 15th-century five-bay king-post roof with a braced collar supported on reused 12th-century corbels in the form of animal heads, with double butt purlins. The Hungerford Chapel has a trussed rafter roof. The flooring is 19th-century coloured and encaustic tile.

Furniture and fittings include a fine 15th-century octagonal stone font with quatrefoils on each face, positioned adjacent to the south door. A 17th-century carved oak pulpit has blind arcading and 'S'-scroll decoration. 19th-century wooden pews are present throughout. The choir stalls have probably 18th-century turned balusters, likely reused from former communion rails, while the present communion rails are 20th-century with decorative wrought-iron uprights.

Monuments include a 17th-century ledger to the right of the altar to Michael Mills, and a ledger to the left to Mary, wife of Michael Mills, Vicar of Windrush, who died in 1683. Five ledgers set into the aisle floor commemorate mostly 18th-century members of the Broad family. Two 19th-century white marble commandment tablets are on the west wall of the tower. A ledger leaning against the east wall of the Hungerford Chapel commemorates George Hungerford and Katherin, his wife, daughter of Edward Fabian of Compton, Berkshire, who died in 1597.