Description

HOLWELL PIRTON ROAD
TL 1633 (East side)

9/20 Church of St. Peter
27.5.68 (C of E) at corner
with Holwell Road

GV II

Parish Church. Rebuilt 1877-9 by Ewan Christian (1814-95) for
Rev Arthur Delme-Radcliffe the rector (last service in old church 30
December 1877: new church consecrated 8 May 1879 - see tablet in porch),
SE vestry and baptistery in NW corner of nave 1907 (Kelly (1914)165).
Some features of old church incorporated when rebuilt. Masonry walls of
coursed brown and grey flint pebbles with limestone dressings. SE vestry
roughcast. Steep red tile roofs. An irregular small church in C14 style
with chancel, nave, S aisle, and SW tower the base forming the porch.
Lean-to original N vestry (now organ chamber), and pitched roofed later
SE vestry. Each element clearly articulated. Diagonal buttresses to E
end of chancel and NW angle of nave. 2 buttresses to N side of nave.
Pyramidal roof to 3-stages square tower. Gable parapets to other
elements. Arched dripmoulds to openings inside and out terminate in neat
bun-shaped circular stops. Scissor-braced rafter open timber roofs to
nave and chancel, 2-bays arched braced roof to S aisle. Encaustic tiles
in paving of chancel, and mosaic to baptistery. Chancel has a 3-lights E
window with circular motif in the head and stained glass, 2 single-light
S windows, and one to N of altar. Chancel arch of 2 chamfered orders
springing from short corbelled shafts. Features from older church are:
C14 string course across E wall with hollow chamfer and N end
terminating in a longsnouted beast with closed wings and issuing from
its mouth a wavy stem ornamented with ball flowers, human heads, and
leaves: and a C15 corbel set over the S door, in the form of a wimpled
female head. Oak organ case on N side with painted pipes, decorated with
crocketed finials alternating with angels blowing trumpets. Interior of
S vestry decorated with red stencilling on white ground. Arcaded marble
reredos with vivid mosaic in cinquefoil panels. Shield with crossed keys
of St. Peter over head of E window. Marble ciborium to N of altar. Tall
nave has 2 bays S arcade of 2 chamfered orders on circular pier and
corbelled imposts, 3 lights pointed W window with trefoil lights and
tracery in head, large 3-lights Perp window lighting pulpit at E end of
N wall, and single-light window to W end of N wall. Simple pine pews.
Octagonal stone pulpit with mosaic inlay. Circular stone font on 4
marble shafts in low enclosure with carved wooden panelling and wrought
iron gates. Pointed S door from porch. Features from older church are:
C15 piscina in N wall by pulpit: and grave slab in floor by pulpit with
brass to Robert Wodehouse d.1515 with memorial plate, chalice and wafer,
and 2 wild men or 'wodehouses'. In the middle of the outside of the N
wall of the nave a C15 pointed doorway with continuous moulding with
jamb stops. Hollow chamfered inner order, and wave moulded outer. The
small S aisle has a separate entrance from porch, single trefoil-light E
window with stained glass fragment of a bishop, and in S wall 2 square
headed windows with corbelled lintels inside, one of 2 and the other
of 3 trefoil lights. The porch in the base of the tower has a wide
2-centred arched S entrance door, memorial tablet on W wall, painted
commandment boards, and pointed lancet window on W. Tower has single
lancet window on each side of middle stage, circular clock face on W
face, string course below single trefoil-headed louvred bell-opening on
each face, and windvane on apex of roof. (VCH Beds II (1908)287: RCHM
(1911)126-7: Kelly (1914)165: Pevsner (1977)209).

Listing NGR: TL1652533306

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26397284

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas