Church Of St Peter And St Paul

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a church dating back to the 12th century, with significant additions and alterations made in the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 19th centuries. Notable among these is work from around 1230 commissioned by Letticia, Baroness of Drax. It is constructed of magnesian limestone ashlar, with a slate and lead roof.

The church comprises a three-stage west tower, a four-bay clerestoried nave with aisles and a south porch, and a five-bay chancel with a north chapel. The tower features quoins, two lancet windows on its west side, trefoiled openings on the second stage (now blocked), twin-light bell openings with trefoil heads on the third stage, a corbel table, gargoyles to the angles, and an octagonal spire. The south porch has a pointed arched opening with roll-moulding, containing a reset collection of seven corbel heads. A double plank door, dating back to the 18th century, is set within the opening, featuring roll-moulded hood mouldings on foliate capitals and chamfered jambs.

The nave’s south aisle has buttresses and three-light, straight-headed windows with decorative spandrels and a continuous sill band. The north aisle, originally 12th century, was widened and rebuilt in the 14th century, incorporating a chapel. It has buttresses with offsets, and an entrance door within a chamfered, ogeed surround. The windows here have reticulated tracery within straight-headed, double-chamfered surrounds. The clerestory features an arcade of eight Perpendicular windows with three stepped lights, under a continuous hoodmould, and gargoyles, topped by enriched battlements.

The chancel has a plank priest’s door within a chamfered, shouldered surround under a cavetto-moulded hood which forms part of a continuous sill band. It contains lancets within chamfered surrounds and under hoods, three to the east end, with an oculus to the gable, and ashlar coping.

Inside, the double-chamfered, round tower arch rests on plain imposts. The nave features a 12th-century, three-bay round-arched arcade to the north side, with chevron moulding and 14th-century fleurons. One cylindrical pier has a waterleaf capital; others have plain imposts, with slender shafts and waterleaf capitals to the angles. The 14th-century four-bay south arcade has double-chamfered, pointed arches on octagonal piers, and figures of saints support brattished shafts between the clerestory windows. A double-chamfered round chancel arch with plain imposts and a cavetto-moulded, double-chamfered arch to the north chapel with stiff leaf capitals are also present. A fragment of 12th-century sculpture is incorporated in the north aisle wall and a 13th-century foliate cross is within the chancel wall. The church contains a tub font dating to the 12th century, a piscina, several 18th-century memorial slabs and tablets, a late 17th-century altar rail, a set of carved bench ends dating from around 1535-50, and remains of wall paintings on the north wall of the nave.