Parish Church of St Peter

Parish Church of St Peter

A High Victorian Gothic church built in grey-brown snecked rubble stone with ashlar dressings, green slate roofs, terracotta ridge tiles and gables coped with stone cross finials. The building comprises a nave, south aisle, tall south-west tower over a porch, chancel and lean-to vestry.

The commanding south-west porch tower rises through three tall stages with clasping angle buttresses that are set back at mid-height of each stage and capped with gables at the springing level of the bell-lights. The tower has a battered base, substantial plinth moulding and two string courses carried around all buttresses, a plain coped parapet and a recessed plated pyramid roof where a high ashlar broach spire was originally intended. The bell-windows are large, with plate tracery in a 2-light pattern, louvers and blank sexfoil designs. Hoodmoulds crown them. On the south side of the lowest stage is a gable over a moulded ashlar doorway with a narrow cusped lancet light above. The west side features a square stair projection to the lower stage with a lean-to stone hipped roof and two loops.

The nave has a pointed west door and a large 3-light window with plate tracery, quatrefoils and a sexfoil design beneath an apex cusped roundel. The north side displays four large 2-light windows with plate tracery and foiled roundels, each with a hoodmould and sill course. The south side contains the tower in its first bay followed by a 3-window range, with three pairs of clerestory roundels featuring quatrefoil cusping above a plain lean-to aisle. The aisle contains six plain cusped lancets and a plate-traceried 2-light east window.

The chancel is set lower than the nave and features clasping angle buttresses, sill courses and varied plate-traceried windows. The south side has one 3-light and one 2-light window with varied foiled circular lights. The east side contains a large 5-light window with three roundels and a hoodmould. The north side has one 2-light window positioned above an added flat-roofed vestry with a lean-to organ-chamber to the right.

The interior exemplifies High Victorian Gothic design. The nave features large king-post and collar trusses. The south arcade consists of three bays with circular piers, pointed arches, hoodmoulds and carved stops. Both the south and west doors have segmental-pointed moulded heads with applied gables above. The aisle possesses a lean-to roof with corbelled wall-pieces, angle struts and pierced sexfoils in the spandrels. The chancel arch rises on two large wall-shafts with leaf capitals. Two steps lead up to the chancel, which has a 3-bay scissor truss roof and a moulded arch on the north side opening to an organ recess with a hoodmould stepped down to the right as a sill course below the north window, itself also featuring a hoodmould with carved stops and a trefoil-headed shelf below. Three steps rise to the sanctuary and one to the altar table, which stands on an encaustic tiled floor with an ashlar reredos displaying mosaic panels. A stiff-leaf cornice runs beneath the 5-light east window, which has a hoodmould with carved stops. The south side contains two sedilia with hoodmoulds over the two windows.

Original furnishings include a carved stone font and pulpit in the nave. The circular font sits on a 4-lobe base, while the pulpit features an open half-round front composed of five marble ringed shafts. A brass eagle lectern dates from 1900. The organ was built in 1884 by Vowles of Bristol.

The stained glass collection is notable. An outstanding west window dates from 1938 and was created by Wilhelmina Geddes (1888-1955) in the style of Harry Clarke of Dublin. Windows on the nave north side date from around 1924, 1917, 1918 and 1919, the last commissioned by Kempe and Tower. The south aisle contains an east window of around 1901 signed by R J Newbery and a first south side window of similar date also signed 1901. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th aisle windows display strongly drawn glass from around 1875-1877. The 5th window dates from 1931 and the 6th from 1950, probably by Sir Ninian Comper. The chancel holds a fine east window of around 1875 and a south window from 1868 in strong Gothic style, with a north window of 1950 by Powell of Whitefriars.

Monuments from the earlier church are collected in the porch. These include a damaged Baroque plaque commemorating Jane Lloyd of Maesyfelin (died 1706) and a marble monument in a Gothic surround to Reverend E Williams (died 1820), signed by D Mainwaring of Carmarthen.