Church of St Peter is a Grade II* listed building in the Lake District National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 23 July 1987. Church.
Church of St Peter
- WRENN ID
- third-hall-sparrow
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Lake District National Park
- Constituency
- Westmorland and Lonsdale MP: Tim Farron (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 23 July 1987
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Church of St Peter, Colton, Westmorland and Furness
- OS grid reference
- SD 368 878
- Coordinates
- 54.28216, -2.97095
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Peter is a church dating from 1873 to 1879, designed by Paley and Austin. It is constructed of coursed stone rubble with sandstone dressings, and has a slate roof with a tile ridge. The building consists of a nave and chancel, with a tower situated between them. To the north is an organ loft under a catslide roof, which adjoins a lean-to vestry. The gables are coped. The four-bay nave features round-headed windows. A north gabled porch is partially enclosed with a timber-frame structure built on low stone walls, and contains a round-headed entrance arch of one order with moulded detail. A corresponding bay is present on the south side but is blind. The west end has two windows positioned on a weathered sill band, with a continuous hoodmould. There are two lead dampcourses and a top lancet window. The tower has deep weathered buttresses on the north and south sides, with weathered projections in between. The projection to the south has a round-headed lancet window, with a smaller lancet above. The vestry features two windows, a round stair window above, and a diamond-shaped clock face on the upper part. The pyramidal roof is high, with north and south raking louvred dormers, and east and west hipped stone dormers containing round-headed, louvred bell openings with zig-zag mouldings to the arch, topped with a weather-fish. The chancel has a weathered sill band, two windows to the north and one to the south. The east end has three windows, the central one wider, under a continuous hoodmould. A flushwork cross is situated below the sill, alongside two lead dampcourses and a lancet window above. A gable cross is also present. The organ loft has a segmental-headed entrance and one window, with a lean-to outbuilding to the east.
Inside, the church features single rafter roofs with braced collars and ashlaring. Two arches lead to the tower and are stepped, with the inner part corbelled. There are blind arches to the north and south of the tower space, and a rib vaulted ceiling decorated with painted scrollwork and angels bearing the Beatitudes. The nave has a stencilled frieze and window arches, which form part of a scheme mostly whitewashed. Three pendant light fittings with wrought iron decoration are present, with one more elaborate in the tower space. The chancel contains good, simple stalls, an organ case, and an altar rail. A reredos by Salviati, dating from 1883, features mosaic panels and painted angels above the east windows. Good stained glass is found in the chancel, possibly by Powell, and in the west end. A collection of good wall tablets are also present, commemorating Edward Taylor (died 1790), James King (1827), Margaret Taylor (1820), and George Braithwaite (1814), the last three by Webster of Kendal.
Local climate
Church of St Peter sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,570 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 60% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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