Church of St Peter and St Paul is a Grade II* listed building in the West Northamptonshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 January 1968. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Peter and St Paul
- WRENN ID
- distant-merlon-yarrow
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- West Northamptonshire
- Constituency
- Daventry MP: Stuart Andrew (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 18 January 1968
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Peter and St Paul, Preston Capes
- OS grid reference
- SP 574 549
- Coordinates
- 52.18938, -1.16139
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a church dating from the 13th to 15th centuries, with a restoration in 1853. It is constructed of coursed squared ironstone, with lead roofs and a tiled chancel. The building comprises a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and a west tower. The east window is a three-light Perpendicular style window. The north side of the chancel wall has been largely rebuilt, featuring a single low-side lancet window to the west and evidence of blocked windows. To the south is a three-light mullion window and a priest's door. The nave has a two-bay clerestory with two-light mullion windows, C18 lead rainwater heads and pipes, and a plain coped parapet. The north aisle has a three-light Decorated east window with reticulated tracery and label stops, two two-light Decorated windows beside the north door, and two-light, depressed-arch headed windows to the north-west and west. The south aisle has a three-light Decorated east window with cusped heads and intersecting tracery, a three-light arch mullion window with a hood-mould to the right of the south porch, and a two-light Decorated window to the left. The south porch has a double-chamfered door and a holy water stoup. The south door within the porch has a four-centred arch head and a hood-mould. The west and south-west windows of the south aisle resemble those on the north side. Both aisles extend along the sides of the west tower, which features three stages with a pointed arch and a three-light Perpendicular window above. The belfry stage has two-light Perpendicular windows, angle buttresses, and battlements.
Inside the church, a C17 communion table is present. The east window is flanked by boards containing the Commandments, Creed, and Lord’s Prayer, grouped in pairs and topped with segmental pediments and gilded urns. The chancel roof dates to 1853. The chancel arch has three chamfered mouldings, the innermost on polygonal responds. The nave features a three-bay arcade, with the westernmost arches cut off by the tower. The north arcade has octagonal piers, double-chamfered arches, moulded capitals, and a respond at the east end. The south arcade has round piers, octagonal abaci, and chamfered arches. The nave roof is from the 19th century, with older lean-to roofs in the aisles; the south aisle's roof has stop-chamfered ties. An octagonal Perpendicular font with blank tracery patterns is built into the south-east pier of the tower. Some C15 pews remain. A C18 wall monument is found in the chancel, and a painted Carolean Royal Arms is located at the west end of the south aisle.
Local climate
Church of St Peter and St Paul receives an average of 740 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 75% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 69% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 38 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 73% of listed buildings. Of these, 19 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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