Church Of St Peter And St Paul

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a parish church, almost entirely rebuilt between 1887 and 1891 by J D Sedding. Parts of the tower may be earlier. The church is constructed of finely cut and squared local stone with ashlar dressings, and has nearly flat lead roofs behind an openwork parapet and gables. It is mainly in a 15th-century style. The church comprises a chancel, nave, a north aisle, and a double south aisle. There is also a north-east organ chamber/vestry and a south-east Lady Chapel.

The chancel features a plinth, offset corner buttresses, a coped gable with a cross final, and a five-light 19th-century traceried east window with a low transome and carved sub-panels. The Lady Chapel is treated as more prominent, with a pierced traceried parapet, coping, and finial. Its four-light window is under an ogee arch label leading to a statue niche in the coping, a similar design to the east organ chamber window. The nave and aisles generally have plinths, offset corner buttresses, parapets, and buttresses between bays, with three-light 19th-century traceried windows. On the south side, of the six bays, the second from the east has an 18th-century doorway, likely by Nathaniel Ireson. It has a plain ashlar surround, a semi-circular arch with a keystone, and a segmental pediment enclosing a sculpted panel where three angel heads survive; the doors are studded. The west window to the nave is a fine example of 15th-century tracery. A north porch, dated 1891, has an elaborately traceried north gable depicting a Calvary scene. Inside the east wall of the porch is a roughly 600mm square stone, found during the 1735 rebuilding, depicting a blacksmith's forge and a bishop with a horse, all rather worn and believed to be of St Eligius.

The tower has three stages with diagonal offset buttresses to the lower half of the first stage. It features string courses, a crenellated parapet, corner pinnacles, a small moulded arch west door, a two-light window above the door, and a single-light window to the north and south of the first stage. A stair turret is on the south-east corner with a pitched roof extending to the height of most of the first stage. Two-light windows with flat-headed cusped arched lights are found on all faces of the upper two stages. These windows are fitted with pierced stone baffles, and lack labels.

The interior arcade between the south aisles appears to be 15th century, with four hollow piers. The east window glazing is by Clayton and Bell, dated 1889. The earliest mention of the church appears in 1344, although in 1871, the tower and font were considered to be 13th century. In 1735, the church was considered too small and was rebuilt (possibly by Ireson), who certainly added the chancel and clerestory in 1748. The tower was raised by approximately 4 metres in 1793. A structural report from 1885 recommended rebuilding, and designs by C E Ponting and J D Sedding were considered before Sedding was selected.