St.Peter's Parish Church

St Peter's Parish Church

A Grade II* listed church, St Peter's is a substantial aisled parish church designed in the Early English Gothic style. The building comprises a five-bay aisled nave with a four-stage western tower, a chancel with associated vestry to the north and Lady Chapel to the south, an organ loft above the vestry, a minstrels gallery above the Lady Chapel, and a prominent south porch.

The church is constructed of coursed rock-faced masonry with pink and buff Pennant sandstone dressings that create a simple polychromy, particularly evident in the windows, doorways and polygonal stair turrets. The roof is of Welsh slate with ridge tiles and crucifix gable finials. A bellcote sits above the west end of the chancel.

The western tower is notably tall with a crenellated parapet and a stair turret to its northeast corner. The topmost storey features louvred three-light belfry openings with quatrefoils at their base, and clock faces are positioned below. At nave roof level are paired lancets, while the ground floor contains single lancets with hoodmoulds and stops to the north and double lancets with two orders of nook shafts to the west.

The south porch is approached by stone steps and features flying buttresses to the west over the side steps. Its deeply moulded four-order pointed outer entrance arch has nook shafts and foliage capitals with stops. Iron gates and a figure in the gable niche adorn the porch, which also has side lancets, nail-headed moulding to the inner arch and an arched braced roof.

The nave has paired lancets in the clerestory and three separate lancets with impost and sill bands in each aisle bay. The aisles are separated by buttresses with offsets, whilst angle buttresses with gables and offsets mark the northwest aisle. Quatrefoil ventilation panels sit above the plinth. The organ loft to the north and minstrels gallery to the south form transeptal projections with polygonal ashlar stair turrets that have tall broaches at their base. The north side features a heavily cusped trefoil-headed window in the clerestory and three lancets at ground floor level; the south side has a trefoil oculus over paired lancets in the clerestory and three lancets at ground floor level. A pointed arched door is positioned on the north side.

The chancel has a bellcote with bell at its west end, flanked by minaret-style pinnacles. The east end displays a central stepped three-light window with outer lights separated by narrow blind panels and a mandorla in the gable. The gabled end of the Lady Chapel and vestries step forward and down on either side, with a two-light east window to the north and lancets to the south.

The church is surrounded by boundary walls of rock-faced stone with ashlar saddleback coping to the south and west, piers and iron railings and gates. The north wall is of rubble stone.

Internally, banded polychromy continues throughout in the manner of William Butterfield or John Norton, created by the contrast of red and buff coloured brick and sandstone. The five-bay nave features a two-order arcade carried on alternating octagonal and cylindrical piers, with an arch-braced roof with wind braces. Cylindrical clustered shafts with annulettes support the clerestory windows, whilst triple shafts with annulettes support the high chancel arch. A continuous arcade of windows runs along the aisles. The chancel has a boarded and panelled roof, and the sanctuary is enriched by floor tiles. A fine alabaster reredos with sculpture is set within gable-headed niches flanking a central triptych, with sedilia and wall arcading. Twinned arches sit below the organ loft and minstrels gallery. The Lady Chapel features a mosaic reredos.

Original furnishings remain, including an octagonal stone pulpit with sculptured panels and a pink and grey marble font mounted on stout cylindrical columns. Stained glass in the east and west windows is by Dixon, with grisaille glass to the north and south. Tall doors access the inner side of the southwest entrance. A Father Willis organ, built in 1890, is retained in the church.