Church of St Peter

Church of St Peter

This church is built of local red and grey sandstone with dressings of coarse yellow sandstone and has Welsh slate roofs. It comprises a nave with a gallery at the west end, a separate chancel, a west bellcote, a south porch, and a vestry attached to the north side of the nave and chancel.

The nave is four bays long with the south porch located in the second bay from the west. The first bay contains a two-light flat-topped Perpendicular style window with the central mullion rising to the top of the frame, and a drip mould above. The porch dates partly from around 1500 and features a two-centred arch with a drip mould decorated with carved head stops. A pointed arch window sits on the left return, with diagonal corner buttresses and a coped gable topped by a cross. To the right of the porch is a three-light window in the same style, followed by a stepped buttress, a two-light window, and another stepped diagonal corner buttress. The east gable is coped with a cross.

The north wall is four bays divided by stepped buttresses. The easternmost bay is covered by a projecting vestry with pointed lancet windows in a style more characteristic of Seddon and possibly dating from around 1860; this was extended in 1981. The other three bays have two-light windows matching those on the south side. Several of the nave windows show evidence of reused medieval stonework. The west gable displays a three-light Perpendicular style window with cusped heads and a hood mould decorated with carved head stops, supported by a buttress. Diagonal corner buttresses flank the gable, which is coped and topped by a gabled bellcote containing two bell openings.

The chancel has two bays separated by a stepped buttress, with diagonal corner buttresses at the corners and a coped gable with a cross. The windows are single pointed lights with trefoil heads, again showing some evidence of reused medieval stonework. A three-light arched window with drip mould matches the style of the west window but retains more medieval stonework.

The interior is plastered and painted throughout. The nave features a semi-circular wagon roof of six bays with narrow ribs dividing it into three bays across. The chancel roof is said to be medieval. A west gallery erected in 1846 is supported on two slim cast iron columns and carries a large organ of 1886, which entirely obscures the west window. This organ was presented to the Rector, the Reverend Thomas Evans, by his wife and children.

The furnishings are predominantly Victorian, with exceptions including a Norman font with a rope-moulded bowl on a Victorian base and a probably 16th-century oak chest. A two-centred chancel arch features a Perpendicular style screen erected in 1907 in memory of Reverend Richard Byrde (died 1906). The nave panelling dates from 1930, and the coloured nave windows are from 1985 by Celtic Studios. The chancel contains a Communion rail of 1846 and an altar and reredos in memory of Susanna Durant Sicklemore, who died in 1907. The east window is from 1903 by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, erected in memory of Reverend Thomas Evans, rector from 1844 to 1886, who was responsible for rebuilding the church. The chancel panelling dates from 1922. A memorial on the south wall of the chancel commemorates Colonel Henry Bird (born Detroit 1780), who served under Sir John Moore and the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War.