Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter, now redundant

A 13th-century church substantially restored and altered in the 19th century. The chancel was rebuilt and the church extensively restored in 1868–69 by Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, with further work undertaken in 1890 by G. F. Bodley. The building is constructed of squared coursed limestone and limestone ashlar with lead and Collyweston slate roofs.

The church comprises an aisled nave, chancel, chapels, south transept, south porch and west tower.

The chancel has a gabled roof with Collyweston slates and plain parapets with a corbel table and gable parapet with finial. The south elevation shows one blank bay, with the south chapel and transept projecting over the other two bays. A large five-light east window features mouchettes, a circle and cusping, with a small circular opening above. Flanking three-stage clasping buttresses with gablets carry carved heads decorating the gablets and window label stops. The north elevation of the chancel is similarly a blank bay.

The south aisle and south chapel comprise six bays. The bay to the far right is blank with a two-stage clasping buttress at the corner. The adjacent bay breaks forward as the south transept, with a three-light south window and two-stage clasping buttresses at the corners. It has a shallow gabled roof with ashlar parapets and finial. A range of three windows along the south aisle consists of tall two- and three-light windows with four-centred arch-heads; the windows to the centre and left are partly 14th-century, while the other is 19th-century. A lean-to roof continuous with the south chapel has plain ashlar parapets. The south chapel has a 19th-century three-light east window with geometrical tracery and ogee-head. A 14th-century two-light west window to the south aisle has hollow reveals. A 19th-century gabled porch breaks forward to the left of centre, with moulded inner and outer doorways, each having one order of shafts and carved label stops. A carved plaque with cross keys sits above the outer arch. The porch has ashlar gable parapets and finial, with two-light square-head windows to the return walls.

The north aisle and north chapel comprise a seven-window range. A two-window range of the north chapel vestry contains 19th-century three-light windows with geometrical tracery and carved corbel stops. A priest door to the far left also has a carved label stop. The five-window range of the north aisle consists of 14th-century two-light windows with ogees and spins, some with 19th-century restored tracery, all having carved label stops. The north aisle and north chapel-vestry have separate lean-to roofs with plain ashlar parapets. The north aisle has a 19th-century three-light east window similar to the south windows.

The nave has a clerestory of four windows, all 19th-century with square-heads. It has a gabled roof with Collyweston slates, plain ashlar parapets and a gable parapet with finial.

The 13th-century west tower has three stages. A three-stage clasping buttress is positioned at the north-west corner; two-stage angle buttresses with a secondary single-stage buttress stand at the north and south-east corners, while a shallow two-stage buttress to the south-west corner is set beside the stair turret and has a building to the corner of the upper stage. The west doorway has a two-centred arch-head with roll mouldings, nail-head decoration and two orders of shafts. Plain lancet windows appear above and on the north and west faces of the second stage. The upper stage contains two-light bell-chamber openings on each face, featuring one order of shafts, a central polygonal shaft, a quatrefoil circle above and a single-chamfered two-centred arch-head. A corbel table sits above, with a plain ashlar parapet. Set back is an ashlar broach spire with roll mouldings at the angles. Two tiers of lucarnes are positioned at alternate faces. The lower tier has a lower opening with a trefoil head and an upper opening with two orders of shafts, a central shaft and trefoil above.

Interior

The four-bay nave arcade is of 13th-century double-chamfered arches, largely reconstructed in the 19th century, with circular piers and semi-circular responds; the west responds appear to be original. The 19th-century moulded and chamfered chancel arch has marble cluster shaft responds supported on carved corbels. A double-chamfered tower arch also features carved corbels. Double-chamfered and moulded arches between the aisles and chapels have plain responds. A 14th-century two-bay chancel arcade features moulded arches, with a central pier having marble shafts and cluster shaft responds similar to the chancel arch. A 14th-century roll-moulded arch connects the south chapel to the transept.

The 19th-century roof structures include a barrel-vaulted chancel roof with painted wooden panels. The chancel walls feature stencil decoration by Bodley. Nineteenth-century iron railings with a stone base run between the nave and chancel, and between the chancel, south aisle and south chapel. To the right of the altar, a 19th-century piscina and triple sedilia have trefoil heads and crocketed gables; a similar niche sits to the left of the altar. The chancel floor contains tiles by Maws. Nineteen-century brass candle brackets are positioned in the chancel, along with a brass communion rail.

Stained glass includes an east window by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake dating to around 1868. Nineteenth-century stained glass appears in the south chapel and transept windows, two windows of the north aisle and one window of the south aisle; the latter is by Anning and Bell, dating to around 1919. A 19th-century octagonal font and a 19th-century pink marble pulpit are also present. The south chapel contains a reredos dating to around 1635, with three carved medallions depicting the Heart of Jesus, vines and a chalice.

Monuments and memorials include matrices for brasses in the floor of the south aisle and Brudenell monuments, all located in the south chapel and adjacent transept. Sir Robert Brudenell, who died in 1531, lies with his two wives in three recumbent alabaster effigies on a sarcophagus with balusters and quatrefoil panels. Brasses commemorate Edmund Brudenell (died 1585), Sir Thomas Brudenell (died 1549), John Brudenell (died 1606), Edmund Brudenell (died 1652) and Robert (died 1549). Three arch-head recesses to the south and east walls include examples with Ionic pilasters, cartouches and obelisks, and another with Doric pilasters. A chest tomb serving as an altar displays three shields in panels and is associated with Thomas Brudenell, who died in 1664. A small open-fronted chest tomb at the base of the chancel pier features arch-head openings with Ionic pilasters.

Later monuments include a monument to Anne, Duchess of Richmond, who died in 1722, by Guelfi, positioned on the west wall of the transept; a bust set against a square surround with flanking caryatids, metope frieze and pediment above. A wall tablet to the Countess of Cardigan, who died in 1826, is by Sievier. A monument to the Seventh Earl of Cardigan, who died in 1868, and his wife, by Sir J. E. Boehm, features recumbent effigies on a sarcophagus with bronze sea horses at the bottom corners. Various other 19th and 20th-century tablets to the Brudenell family appear in the south chapel and south aisle, including a wall tablet to Lord Robert Brudenell-Bruce, who died in 1912, and his wife, which incorporates a reset stone crucifix.