Church Of St Peter

Church of St. Peter, a parish church built in 1869–70 by architect H. Woodyer, stands in Minsterworth. It is constructed of roughly squared and coursed stone with ashlar dressings and a tiled roof.

The building comprises a nave, north aisle, west tower, south porch, chancel, and north vestry.

On the south facade facing the river, the tower is set back behind the nave and half covered by it. It features a moulded plinth, a projecting buttress to the west with offsets, and a half-octagonal stair turret set in the angle with the nave, complete with slit windows. Two plain string courses run across; a lancet with louvres sits above the nave roof, and a crenellated parapet with a string course below crowns the composition. The turret rises above the roof with a matching parapet and an iron weathervane. The nave itself has a plain plinth with a large timber-framed porch on the left, reached by four stone steps. The porch doors are boarded with shouldered, flat-headed openings, glazed lights over rendered panels on each side, and a plastered cove to the jettied gable above with decorative barge boards. The nave's sides contain two bays, each with three lancets over rendered panels. To the right are two three-light Decorated windows with a square-set buttress at the right end and an ashlar eaves course. The chancel, slightly set back to the right, has a plain plinth with an offset at window-sill level, a lancet on the left, and two two-light windows with Reticulated tracery and hoodmoulds. A buttress stands between these windows. The chancel's east end displays a three-light Decorated window over the plinth and offset, with hoodmould and head stops; a gargoyle drains to the valley below. A lower gable to the right contains a three-light Reticulated window with hoodmould, and the parapet matches that of the chancel.

On the north facade facing the road, the vestry to the left has a plain plinth and a buttress near its east end. To the right, four stone steps behind a low wall lead to a quarter landing, then one step up to a boarded door with hoodmould, with steps descending below window sills. Beyond are three lancets with two buttresses and eaves matching the south side. The aisle is slightly set back as a lean-to against the nave with no clerestory; it has a plain plinth and three paired lancets. A double boarded door with moulded surround sits under the extended foot of the tower buttress, reached by five stone steps and topped with a hoodmould with head stops; a long offset spans above, with a niche to the right. The tower has square-set corner buttresses, a moulded plinth, and three stages separated by plain strings. The lowest stage contains a slit window, the second a lancet, and the top a two-light window with louvres and hoodmould; the parapet matches the south side. The west face of the tower is like the north, with an arched boarded door at the bottom of the stair turret reached by four stone steps. The nave's west end features a tall two-light Reticulated window cutting a plain ashlar surface to a pediment, with hoodmould and head stops, plus paired lancets above. In 1975, a stone lean-to was reconstructed against the foot of the gable wall.

The interior reveals a four-bay nave with circular columns, moulded capitals, and simple bases. A hoodmould with carved stops was added in 1884. The wide chancel arch has no capitals but carries shafts on each side to support the hoodmould. The roof structure comprises collar trusses with straight braces and a stub king post, one pair of purlins, scalloped wind braces, and exposed rafters. An oak chancel screen has three lights on each side of a central opening, resting on turned pillars with a boarded base and a large cross above. The chancel contains a two-bay arcade to the vestry with moulded capital and base on a circular column; ballflower ornaments appear in the arches beneath the hoodmould. A wooden screen in Early English style infills the opening. Two-seat sedilia sit below the east window on the south, with an aumbry featuring a cinquefoil head and ballflower in lieu of hoodmould. A marble reredos with angels stands above. The chancel roof comprises archbraced collar trusses off plain corbels with scalloped scissor wind bracing; the eastern bay is ribbed and boarded with a pointed barrel vault. A datestone on the north wall bears a long inscription. The vestry also contains an aumbry. A Jacobean wooden hexagonal pulpit sits on a 19th-century stone base. A 15th-century octagonal stone font has quatrefoils around the bowl edge and blind panelling with corner buttresses on the stem. A 16th-century needlework altar frontal in a case incorporates 14th-century figures.

Stained glass includes a west window by Hardman dating to 1880; east and two south chancel windows by Clayton & Bell from around 1870; and an east vestry window of 1876 by Capronnier of Brussels. Two triangular brass hanging lamps hang in the chancel. An 1838 benefactions board and wall monuments from the mid-17th century and early 19th century occupy the tower base, including a 1789 memorial to Charles Barrow by Ricketts of Bath, which features a portrait medallion.

The church was rebuilt with its floor four feet higher to avoid flooding; the previous church had become badly decayed.