Church Of St Peter And St Paul

Church of St Peter and St Paul

A church of the late 13th and 14th centuries, restored in the 19th century. Built in squared coursed and regular coursed limestone with ashlar dressings and roofed with lead and plain tiles. The building comprises an aisled nave, chancel, west tower and south porch.

The south elevation of the chancel displays a 2-window range of 2-light windows, the left being a tall 2-light square-headed window with a low sill. A 19th-century south door with carved label stops lies between them. The chancel has a steep gabled roof with ashlar gable parapets and finial. A 3-light 19th-century east window is present. The north elevation of the chancel contains one blank bay.

The south aisle features a 3-window range of 2-light square-headed windows with renewed tracery, a similar 3-light east window and 2-light west window, beneath a lean-to roof with ashlar gable parapets. The gabled south porch, positioned left of centre, is accessed through a double-chamfered and bracketed outer arch with a moulded inner arch. The door itself is of planked construction with decorated strap hinges.

The north aisle and chapel contain a 3-window range of 2-light square-headed windows with some renewed tracery, two north doors between the windows, a similar 3-light east window and 2-light west window. The west tower rises in 4 stages with clasping buttresses to the lower 2 stages. It features a Perpendicular west door with decorated spandrels, a 2-light window above, small quatrefoil and trefoil openings to the south and west faces of the third stage, and 2-light bell-chamber openings to each face of the fourth stage. A plain cornice with corner gargoyles is surmounted by an open quatrefoil parapet. Panelled pinnacles at the corners have a flying buttress supporting a recessed spire. Three tiers of lucarnes with carved heads adorn the corners of the lowest tier.

The interior contains nave arcades of 4 bays with 14th-century double-chamfered arches on quatrefoil piers. A double-chamfered chancel arch and triple-chamfered tower arch are present. A strainer arch to the north chapel is supported on brackets and features an upturned upper arch with openwork spandrels. Original moulded timbers survive in the aisle roofs, while the nave and chancel roofs are 19th-century work.

The chancel contains 19th-century triple sedilia and piscina, with an additional piscina in the south aisle. The floor tiles, dating from 1859–60 by Mintons and designed by Lord Alwyne Compton, include an inscription in the nave to Anne Cleveland Percy, died 1770. A 19th-century altar reredos is present, and the east window contains 19th-century stained glass. An 18th-century font with gadrooned bowl stands on a square plinth. The pulpit, dated 1860, features intricate foliage carving.

Monuments are prominent. In the north chapel centre stands the monument to Sir Christopher Yelverton, died 1612, and his wife, with recumbent figures beneath coffered cross arches carried on 6 plain rectangular columns. A strapwork frieze and cornice with vases at the corners and armorial panels between are surmounted by a base panel containing kneeling figures of 8 children. On the north wall stands the monument to Sir Henry Yelverton, died 1629, and his wife, featuring 2 semi-reclining figures with an inscribed panel above surrounded by books and various linked symbols with winged cherubs. Large caryatids representing hooded bedesmen flank the monument to left and right, with an arch above containing 3 standing figures and 2 hour-glasses on skulls. A base panel shows 9 kneeling figures of children. Various 17th-century black marble floor panels dedicated to the Yelverton family are present. Three wall-mounted plaques to the left of the pulpit are the remains of Bishop Morton's monuments, died 1659.