Church of St Peter

Church of St Peter

This Grade II listed church is built of slate rubble with white sandstone dressings, and features polychrome pitched roofs comprising bands of grey and green slate. The windows contain both leaded and stained glass.

The building is cruciform in plan, with a chancel, north and south transepts, a square north-east tower, a nave, and a north porch. It occupies an elevated position within a large rectangular churchyard and was designed to be seen from the nearby home of its benefactor, local resident R. S. Sawley.

The exterior is designed in a simple early English Gothic Revival style with lancets and angle buttresses to the corners, set on a stepped plinth. The apex of the transepts and west end are surmounted by stone cross finials. The main north elevation comprises a rectangular chancel, largely obscured by the attached tower. The tower has three stages: the ground and middle stages are pierced by a single lancet, while the upper belfry stage has paired louver windows, a parapet with a trefoil-headed frieze, and a pyramid roof surmounted by a weathervane. A shorter, narrow three-sided turret is attached to the east wall of the main tower, with its lower parts recently encased in a small single storey extension. The south transept has a sill band, paired lancets with hood moulds, and a small quatrefoil above. The three-bay nave is pierced by a pair of two-light lancets separated by a stepped buttress. The end bay contains the main entrance, protected by a south porch entered via a pointed-arched entrance with moulded soffit and engaged columns, fitted with heavy double doors and surmounted by a metal cross finial. The west end has a sill band and a large five-light stepped window with hoodmould and short lancet over. The east end, also with a sill band, has a three-light stepped window with engaged columns and dog tooth decoration to the soffit, with a short lancet over. The rear south elevation is similar to the north, but with a tall pitched roofed vestry attached to the chancel. The chancel has a two-light lancet, and the vestry is entered via a shouldered entrance in the east wall. The nave has three two-light lancets alternating with stepped buttresses.

The interior has plainly painted walls throughout and stone flag floors with wooden boards beneath the benches. The chancel, reached via two stone steps, has a plainly tiled floor and a stained glass east window depicting Christ the Good Shepherd by Cox & Sons. The Sanctuary has geometric encaustic floor tiles and retains the original altar and altar rail, the latter formed by ornate wrought iron balusters. On the north side of the chancel, a pointed arched entrance gives access to the tower, and a stencilled organ occupies a full height niche on the opposite wall. Just in front and to the left of the chancel arch is a carved oak pulpit upon a stone base. The pulpit has an octagonal drum with carved floral panels (possibly pomegranates) within trefoil-headed arches. The transept ends have stained glass by R. B. Edmundson & Son, and the brightly coloured west window in the north transept is by Wailes & Strang. A two-light window in the south wall of the nave has a musical theme and depicts St Cecilia playing the organ. The crossing has a timber vaulted roof, and the nave has an arch-braced collar-rafter roof. The church retains a full complement of original oak benches with book rests and roll mouldings. The octagonal stone font is set at the west end, inscribed with the initials I. H. S (the first three letters of the Greek spelling of Jesus) set within a quatrefoil. Various memorials including First and Second World War memorial plaques are affixed to the nave walls. The main entrance to the church has been fitted with modern replacement double doors.

The church sits within a large churchyard, formerly a field, and retains the original dry stone boundary walls. It is entered through a simple double entrance with plain square gate piers. A number of historic lamp posts line the path through the churchyard to the main entrance.