Church Of St Peter

This Anglican parish church, serving Daylesford parish (now part of Adlestrop parish), was built in 1860 by the architect J. L. Pearson for Harman Grisewood. The church incorporates elements from an earlier church that stood on the same site. It is constructed of coursed squared and dressed limestone with snecked lower courses, and features red sandstone columns flanking the exterior openings. The roof is covered with stone slate, whilst the spire and turret are roofed in limestone.

The church follows a cruciform plan, comprising a nave with projecting south porch, central tower, north and south transepts, and a vestry positioned in the angle between the north transept and chancel. Designed in the French Gothic style, the building features a raking plinth and a continuous shoulder-height string course running around the entire church.

Exterior

Nave: The east end has clasping buttresses decorated with quatrefoil and foliate carving. The east window consists of two separate pointed lights with a large quatrefoil above, all set back within a segmental-pointed surround. A continuous string course steps up below the window, with blind quatrefoil decoration beneath. On the north wall, a plank door with decorative hinges sits within a roll-moulded pointed-arched surround with nail head decoration either side of the moulding. It is flanked by two sandstone pillars with foliate capitals, and a continuous string with dog tooth decoration forms a pointed hood above. Boot scrapers are positioned either side of the doorway. To the left is a three-light window with bar tracery dividing small pointed arched lights, with two quatrefoils and a trefoil light above, within a pointed-arched surround with roll moulding at the top. An eaves cornice with billet decoration runs along the top.

South side: To the right of the porch is a window with two separate small pointed lights and a single large quatrefoil. The porch has angle buttresses and features two pairs of small trefoil-headed lights flanked by sandstone columns lighting the side walls. The pointed arched entrance is flanked by paired sandstone columns with foliate capitals, with dogtooth decoration either side of the columns. A continuous dripmould forms a pointed hood above, with chip-carved star decoration below the hood.

The buttressed south transept has an east window comprising two trefoil-headed lights flanked by sandstone columns with foliate heads, with a quatrefoil above each light and delicate foliate decoration over the pointed arched surround. A string with quatrefoil decoration at eaves height continues across the gable end except where interrupted by windows. Above sits a large quatrefoil within a circular surround.

North transept: The north wall is decorated with a blind arcade of five trefoil-headed arches, each flanked by sandstone columns with foliate capitals. The arcade is pierced by two small pointed lights either side of the central blind arch. Above is a large rose window with a quatrefoil at its centre, from which small sandstone columns radiate outwards, each flanking a trefoil-headed light.

A circular stair turret stands in the angle between the nave and north transept. It has a plank door with decorative hinges, flanked by sandstone columns with foliate limestone heads. A narrow pointed arch rises from the capitals with cinquefoil cusping at the top. A pointed canopy sits above with an engaged foliate finial at the top forming part of a foliate string. The circular stair turret with slit lights rises above this. At the top of the turret is a string with billet decoration above a blind arcade of small pointed arches with engaged sandstone columns. Two small slit lights with trefoil heads are set within blind arcading, with pointed upright leaf decoration above.

Chancel and vestry: The chancel has clasping buttresses. The three-light east window is divided by limestone shafts and flanked by engaged red sandstone columns with finely carved foliate capitals. The mouldings of the capitals continue left and right as a string with naturalistic floral decoration gripping dragon-like beasts where the string terminates. Blind trefoils sit above each light with foliate central bosses. A pointed canopy sits over each with engaged finials at the apexes. Each canopy is flanked by decorated engaged colonettes with clasping dragon-like beasts at the base. The vestry has two pointed lancets with a single quatrefoil above, lower right. The vestry has a chimney projecting from the north wall with a cross-gabled stone chimney. A plank door with decorative hinges, flanked by sandstone columns within a roll-moulded pointed arch, is positioned to the right of the chimney. A boot scraper stands to the left of the door.

Tower: The tower has two-light belfry windows on all four sides, flanked by sandstone columns with foliate capitals set in deep reveals. Above each is a quatrefoil opening within a circular surround. A gablet with finial sits above each window. Engaged columns with foliate heads are positioned at the corners of the tower. At the junction of the tower and pyramidal roof is a band with decoration based on the trefoil. The pyramidal stone spire features bands of fish-scale decoration. The conical roof to the stair turret has similar decoration.

All gable ends to the nave, chancel, transepts and porch have flat coping with upright cross finials. Stone ridge tiles feature upright leaf decoration. Wooden guttering with lead lining has a decorative margin.

Interior

Porch: The porch contains bench seats and paired small pointed-arched windows flanked by sandstone columns matching those on the exterior. Between the left-hand pair is carved a stone Agnus Dei; between the right-hand pair is a large bird sheltering two smaller birds. The floor is laid with coloured tiles, and the roof is heavy timber with nailhead decoration.

A 19th-century studded plank door with decorative hinges sits within a flat-chamfered 13th-century almost round-arched surround flanked by keel-moulded columns with stiff leaf capitals. The arch has a hollow-moulded and keel-moulded hood with foliate stops. The interior face of the arch shows a segmental-pointed arch with roll-moulded and chevron decoration. The north door opposite has a segmental-pointed surround with ogee moulding at the top and engaged columns with foliate capitals either side.

A pointed arch leads between the nave and crossing. Against the inside face of the arch is a brown marble column with a foliate limestone capital; green marble columns with foliate capitals stand in stepped reveals either side. Similar arches open to the transepts and chancel. Quatrefoils appear upper right and left of all four archways.

A 19th-century plank door with decorative hinges opens from the north transept into the vestry within a trefoil-headed surround.

Vestry: In the wall dividing the vestry from the chancel is a blocked, partially restored 12th-century round-headed arch with imposts. To the right is a blocked segmental-pointed arch that formerly opened into the chancel. A small fireplace is set in the north wall.

Central free-standing marble columns behind the west window support bar tracery with a central quatrefoil within a circle. All other window surrounds and arcading match those on the exterior but with flanking columns in pink or grey marble.

Stained glass windows appear throughout: the east and west windows are by Wailes, whilst the other windows are by Clayton and Bell.

The sanctuary has a foliate cornice above blind arcading on the north and south walls. Chip-carved decoration within repeated semi-circles appears above the cusped inner arches of the east window. Geometrical multi-coloured mosaics in white, brown, green and black marble are set at the east end below the east window and below the arcading on the north and south walls. A seat in the form of a recess, partly in limestone, is set into the south wall.

A continuous string course approximately two metres above ground level runs around the interior of the church and its columns. The flooring is geometric coloured tile.

The roof is of heavy pointed timber with braced collars, with some principal rafters featuring billet decoration. The chancel has a stone barrel-vaulted roof, the north transept a wood herringbone pattern barrel-vault, and the south transept a scissor-braced roof.

Fittings

The 19th-century font at the east end is ten-sided in stone with marble colonnettes around the base and a wooden lid with foliate wrought iron decoration.

In the north-east corner of the nave stands an ornate circular stone pulpit with biblical scenes and foliate and incised decoration.

Ornate wrought iron screens divide the crossing from the transepts. Each screen has a cinquefoil-headed arch towards the east forming the entrance to each transept respectively, and four trefoil-headed arches east of the entrances with highly ornate foliate, gilded and painted cast ironwork. Two candelabra hang from each screen. Original wrought iron wall-hung candelabra remain in the nave.

Monuments and memorials

At the west end is a brass plaque to Harman Grisewood, patron of the church, who died in 1871.

On the north wall of the nave are two white marble plaques, one recording the restoration and rebuilding of the original church on the site in 1816 by Warren Hastings and the subsequent building of the present church on the same site. Above the north door is a white marble monument to Warren Hastings, who died in 1818. To the right is a white marble monument to Anna Maria Apollonia, who died in 1837. Below is a white marble monument to General Sir Charles Imoff.

In the north transept are one 17th-century and one 18th-century recumbent stone ledgers.

In the west wall of the south transept is a small brass plaque to Niel Makepeace, who died in 1708, and Elizabeth his wife, who died in 1718. A recumbent ledger with inset features fine brass depicting William Gardiner of Lagham, Surrey, who died in 1632, with an inscription plaque below the figure and an inset brass inscription around the margin.