Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter, Little Barrington

An Anglican parish church of Late 12th-century origin with substantial 14th and 15th-century work. The building is constructed of coursed squared and dressed limestone with a stone slate roof. It comprises a nave with a projecting south porch, a north aisle, a tower at the west end of the north aisle, and a chancel at the east end of the nave.

The nave was largely rebuilt in the 14th century and features diagonal buttresses. It contains one 2-light and one 3-light rectangular stone-mullioned window, both with ogee and casement mouldings and stopped hoods. The left-hand window has scroll-ended stops, while the right-hand stop contains the initials 'P.M'. A 20th-century double plank door is set within a Late 12th-century round-headed archway, probably restored. The inner arch is supported by keeled jamb shafts with stiff leaf capitals featuring finely carved decoration. The outer arches are deeply cut with chevron and lozenge ornament, with a hoodmould decorated with dogtooth detail broken at the centre by a small monstrous head. A blocked 4-centred arched doorway with roll and casement-moulded surround and stopped hood is visible in the west gable end. Above this is a two-light pointed window with moulded central mullion and transom, casement moulded surround and stopped hood. The windows in the south and west walls of the nave are probably 15th-century in date.

The 14th-century chancel was restored in the 19th century and features diagonal buttresses. On the north side are two 2-light pointed windows with cinquefoil-headed lights. The east window is 2-light with ogee and casement mouldings and a quatrefoil at the top. Two further 2-light stone-mullioned windows on the north side include one with a stopped hood (now blocked) and one with ogee-curved trefoil heads to each light and carved spandrels. A pointed-arched priest's doorway, now blocked, has a roll-moulded surround and a stopped hood. The east window and the windows in the north wall are probably 15th-century.

The north aisle contains two 2-light stone-mullioned casements. The left-hand casement has a hollow-chamfered mullion, trefoil-headed lights, spandrels carved out to form small lights and a stopped hood. The right-hand window features cinquefoil-headed lights, ogee and casement mouldings and a stopped hood with scroll stops. Both are probably 15th-century. A former tympanum to the north doorway depicts Christ in Majesty flanked by two winged angels in bold relief.

The three-stage 14th-century tower has simple flat-chamfered single lights in the side walls and two-light belfry windows with trefoil heads, stone-slate louvres and stopped hoods. It is topped by a battlemented parapet. An early 18th-century gabled south porch contains a 19th-century studded plank door with decorative strap hinges within a flat-chamfered pointed surround with stopped hood.

Most of the east wall comprises an early 18th-century monument to the Tayler family, consisting of a rectangular inscription plaque with a single carved head at the top, flanked by full-length figures of two men and two women. Two small inscription plaques with moulded margins flank the figures but carry no legible inscription. The roof features stepped coping at the gable ends of the nave, chancel and porch. A 14th-century sanctus bellcote is positioned at the east end of the nave. An upright finial at the west end carries a crenellated parapet and pyramidal capping.

Interior features include a nave arcade of two round arches on cylindrical piers with scalloped capitals. The arches are double-chamfered with ogee-curved stops. A pointed chancel arch rises from projecting moulded imposts supported by tall moulded stone brackets. A flat-chamfered pointed archway connects the west end of the north aisle to the tower. Early wagon roofs cover the nave and chancel, while the south aisle has a 19th-century roof with collar and king post. The floor is flagged. A squint to the left of the chancel arch contains a central flat-chamfered stone mullion, possibly inserted later. A piscina in the south wall of the chancel is rebated for an outer door. Brattishing, possibly reused, is incorporated in the sill of the left-hand window in the nave south wall. An early carved stone head, possibly once a corbel, is set in the splay of the right-hand window. Two niches—one double and one single—are located at the east end of the north aisle, with traces of red paint visible on the latter niche. Painted 17th-century scrolled text appears on the north wall of the north aisle. Two decalogue boards flank the chancel east window.

Fixtures and fittings comprise a 15th-century octagonal limestone font at the west end of the north aisle, 19th to early 20th-century pews and pulpit, and an early 18th-century communion table with turned legs.

The chancel south wall contains a grey and white marble monument to Giles Greenway (died 1815) and Jane Greenway (died 1819) by Wood of Gloucester. A monument to John Grayhurst (died 1730) and Sarah his wife (died 1739) features white and grey marble with a round-headed inscription plaque with moulded imposts and moulded keystone flanked by engaged columns with Corinthian capitals highlighted in gold leaf, supporting a swan-necked pediment. A white on black marble monument to Charles Greenway of Barrington Grove and Upton Priory (died 1859) and Charlotte his wife (died 1873) is by Lewis of Cheltenham.

The chancel contains 19th-century stained glass, and some 14th-century stained glass survives in the east window of the north aisle.