Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is an Anglican parish church located in South Barrow village. It dates back to the 14th century or earlier, with a chancel added and a substantial restoration occurring in 1850. Constructed from local lias stone with Cary stone dressings, the church features plain clay tile roofs topped with ornamental ridge pieces between stepped coped gables.

The building comprises a two-bay chancel and a three-bay nave, accompanied by a south porch and a west tower. The chancel has a plinth, angled corner buttresses, a band course at sill level, and an eaves course. The eastern elevation showcases a three-light window in a 15th-century style, featuring an arched label with square stops. Simple, rectangular, chamfered windows are found in the north and south walls, with only one window on the north wall.

The nave also has a plinth and bands at cill and eaves levels. It contains paired lancet windows with double arched labels. A projection houses the rood loft staircase, incorporating a small pierced light. The south porch is designed to match, with clasped corner buttresses, a chamfered pointed outer arch, a segmental inner arch, and a dog-tooth label over the doorway.

The two-stage tower has a plinth, string course, angled corner buttresses rising to its full height, and a battlemented parapet which formerly included corner pinnacles. A moulded four-centre arched west entrance is set beneath a square label with square stops and quatrefoils in the spandrels. Above this is a three-light window from the late 14th century, with traceried work and a label that serves as a string course. The lower stage is otherwise plain, while the upper stage features two-light traceried windows within hollowed arched recesses, each with pierced stone baffles, along with a single-light window below on the south side. A square plan stair turret is situated on the north-east corner, characterized by a pitched stone roof and slit windows.

Inside, the church has a simple interior with a 19th-century character. The chancel features a moulded, ribbed, and boarded roof vault, a 14th-century sedilia, two blocked pointed arched recesses on the north wall, and a 13th-century style chancel arch. The nave has a similar roof and a tall, wide tower arch, likely from the early 14th century, with long, single jamb shafts supporting bell-capitals. Much of the rood loft stair survives within the north wall. Fittings include a Laudian altar rail, a simple 17th-century altar table, a 17th-century timber pulpit resting on a 19th-century stone base, and a small 17th-century sexton's desk. Several 15th-century bench ends feature a variety of carvings. The font is a chamfered cuboid bowl lettered "1584/RM/SM," set upon a possibly earlier shaft with attached corner shafts. Monumental brass is present, dated 1584, and the first recorded incumbent of the church dates back to 1312.