Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter

This is a parish church dating principally from the 15th century, with a north aisle added around 1534, probably incorporating reused 14th and 15th-century work. The tower arch was rebuilt in 1703. The church was reopened in 1846 and underwent major restoration between 1875 and 1880, when the chancel arch was rebuilt.

The building is constructed of squared rubble local stone with Ham and red sandstone dressings. The tower and west end of the aisle are roughcast. The roofs are slate with plain verges. The plan consists of a west tower with stair turret, a four-bay nave with north aisle, north chapel, south porch, and chancel.

The west tower is a crenellated three-stage structure with diagonal buttresses and a plinth. A string course runs across its face. The bell-openings are two-light and louvred with blocked trefoil-headed statue niches resting on the string course. The second stage has a similar blocked niche with hoodmould. The west window is three-light, and the west doorway has a moulded arch with a 20th-century door. The crenellated south-east stair turret is buttressed.

The buttressed south front has a single-storey gabled porch. To the left of the porch is one three-light window; two three-light windows appear to the right. The outer doorway has a double-chamfered arch dying into imposts; the inner doorway has a moulded arch and a 19th-century door. A fine slate headstone to Robert Bucknell (died 1772) is set on the right return of the porch, inscribed "John Yandell cut it, Wiveliscombe 1772".

The south side of the chancel has two-light windows under square hoodmoulds flanking a chamfered priests' door, and a three-light east window. The aisle has a very fine six-light east window with set-back buttresses. A three-light window with cinquefoil heads is accompanied by a rood stair turret projection with two lancets and a moulded, blocked doorway. Further along are a four-light window with hoodmould featuring face terminals, two buttresses, a three-light window under square hoodmould, and a four-light west window.

Internally, the walls are rendered. The chancel arch is pointed and dates from the 19th century. The tower arch is chamfered with exposed quoins. The four-bay arcade has eight clustered colonnettes with double-chamfered arches and alternating leafband and acanthus-leaf capitals. Between the chapel and chancel is a plain-chamfered semi-circular arch; a chamfered semi-circular arch marks the stair turret door. The roofs are 19th-century work: a scissor truss covers the chancel, whilst the nave and chancel have boarded ribbed wagon roofs with bosses.

A 19th-century encaustic tile reredos is installed. The nave contains a carved eagle lectern of the early 18th century and 18th-century altar rails, two of which are twisted and one fluted with a moulded handrail swept down at either end.

The stained glass includes some medieval panes in the aisle's east window. The chancel's east window is a memorial to someone who died in 1872. A lancet in the chancel is signed by Heaton, Butler and Bayne and dated 1915.

A circular Norman font with a ribbed 17th-century pointed cover is present. The church contains a notable collection of memorials, including a draped urn on tablet to Sarah Darch (died 1808) with a panel below, and a similar but smaller memorial to Richard Darch. A pedimented tablet with inverted torches commemorates Alexander Webber of Gathealton Court, Bathealton (died 1844). A tablet to William Goot (died 1796) is signed by W Long of Taunton. A marble tablet in the chancel to Mary Clerk (died 174–) has a carved heart set in the normal position of a coat of arms. Further tablets commemorate members of the Guppy family, signed by Richards of Wiveliscombe.

The majority of the floor of the north aisle has been covered with concrete. Tradition holds that the aisle's east window and arcade came from Barlynch Priory, Brompton Regis, and that a bequest was made in 1534 for a new aisle (ambulatorius).