Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

Anglican parish church built between approximately 1458 and 1468. The patrons were Abbot William de Winchcombe, followed by Ralph Boteler, Lord Sudeley. The church is constructed of squared Cotswold limestone, often in large blocks, with plain crenellations concealing lead roofing. It is a very regular church, all built within one brief construction period, comprising a west tower, nave, north and south aisles (the latter incorporating an organ chamber and lady chapel respectively), a two-storey south porch, and a chancel.

The tower rises in four stages with diagonal buttresses having four offsets and a plinth. A stair vice is positioned to the north-east, with large gargoyles to each buttress. The tower door is good quality with a stopped drip moulding and four-foil spandrels; above this is a four-light window. Above a continuous drip moulding is a small two-light window below a large four-light window with transome, all in Perpendicular style. The aisles feature three-light Perpendicular windows between buttresses with offsets, set under a continuous drip mould with large coarsed gargoyles. The clerestory lights each consist of two by two-light windows under square heads with a similar string below the crenellation; diagonal pinnacles remain only to the south aisle roof, elsewhere only bases survive. In the sanctuary there are four-light windows on each side of the altar and a low seven-light east window. An octagonal rood stair turret is positioned on the north side.

The upper parts of the chancel, including its crenellation, were replaced in 1872 by John Drayton Wyatt, having been modified with a steep-pitched roof in 1690. The south porch has a two-light window over a figure of St Peter in a niche with pinnacles, two-light windows to the east and west, and a deep hollow-mould surround to the outer door in stopped drip with spandrels. A pair of fine 18th-century inner doors occupy a similar surround, and a fan-vault extends to the ground floor.

Interior

The interior is consistent and simple in design. A lofty tower arch features a fan-vault beneath it. The nave extends for six bays with octagonal piers supporting four-centre arcades, beneath a flat pitched compartmental timber ceiling on cambered beams to plain corbels and decorative spandrels to the arch braced. The aisles have a flat beam roof with a ridged profile and richly moulded plates. At bay six there is a rebuilt mediaeval screen, above which is a 19th-century openwork timber "chancel arch"; beyond the screens the aisles continue as an organ loft and chapel, though the clerestory windows in these two bays have cusped transomes. The chancel has plain walls except in the sanctuary, where there are sedilia with "nodding ogee" heads, possibly earlier than the rest of the church, and a piscina with a canopy over it. A 19th-century reredos is present. The roof is as in the nave but carried on angel corbels. All floors are covered in 19th-century red, black and cream tiles.

Pews and fittings are generally part of the 1870 restoration. Some mediaeval glass fragments survive in window eight of the south aisle and in the lady chapel including the east window; otherwise there are consistent and well-coloured 20th-century designs. At the west end of the north and south aisles are two stone coffins associated with the St Kenelm legends.

Memorials

Brasses in the south aisle commemorate Margaret Crumpe (1647), Bridget Slaughter (1652), Elizabeth Harvey (1685), Richard Caelebs (1670), and Christopher Merrett (1624). Above the brasses to Crumpe and Slaughter is a large slate slab beautifully inscribed to John Warren de Great, not dated. Brasses in the north aisle include those to John Mountlow (1693), Elizabeth Daunce (1727), Thomas Markley (1671), and a fine incised stone slab to Michael Broadway (1723). A large Royal Arms from the time of George III is located in the tower arch, with John Burnham and Thomas Fisher recorded as church-wardens. A fine alms chest on a pillar in bay two of the north aisle completes the furnishings.

Context and Alterations

This is a remarkably consistent but restrained design replacing a decayed earlier fabric. For a brief period in the 15th century, the parishioners worshipped in the nave of the immediately adjacent Abbey, which is now completely destroyed.