Description

SP 39 NW WITHERLEY CHURCH ROAD (west side)

8/125
Church of St. Peter
7.11.66

GV I

Parish Church. Early C14, with a C15 west tower and a chancel of 1858
by Robert Jennings of Atherstone. Coursed and squared freestone,
ashlar north aisle and tower and random rubble chancel; plain tile
roofs with stone coped verges. West tower, 4-bay nave with north aisle
and south porch, 3-bay chancel. The 3 stage west tower has a moulded
plinth, offset belfry stage and a crenellated parapet with moulded
coping stones to merlons and crenels, and external panelling of
trefoiled arches with sunken spandrels; immediately below the parapet
there are two gargoyles on each side. Diagonal corner buttresses
diminish with height in a successful attempt to emphasise the
verticality of the building; the buttresses are capped by panelled and
crocketed pinnacles. A recessed spire of octagonal section has
crocketed angles and 3 tiers of lucarnes with crocketed hood moulds.
4-centred west door with 2 orders of roll-mouldings and a returned hood
mould. Immediately above is a tall 3-light window with panel tracery
beneath a 2-centred arch. Over this window a trefoil-headed loop is
flanked by 2 groups of 3 blank shields. The belfry openings each has 2
trefoil-headed lights with Perpendicular tracery beneath a 2-centred
arch, with returned hood mould; that in the west side is flanked by a
pair of niches. In the south wall of the nave there are 3 three-light
windows with 2-centred arches; from west to east they contain: Cusped
intersecting tracery, reticulated tracery, and flowing tracery. Each
has a hood mould with head-stops. The C14 gabled south porch has a
large wave-moulded entrance arch carried on corbels carved as heads;
and in the east wall is an original quatrefoil-shaped loop. Inside,
the south entrance has 2 orders of convex quarter-round mouldings and a
hood mould with head stops, and retains a medieval door with strap
hinges. C15/C16 clerestorey, each window having 2 lancet lights and
sunken spandrels beneath a square head. Plain parapet with moulded
coping. The north aisle retains a pointed 3-light east window with
cusped flowing tracery and a north window with reticulated tracery and
a scroll-moulded hood terminating in head-stops. Also in the north
wall is a blocked pointed doorway with an outer order of filleted
shafts and moulded capitals, continued around the arch as a roll and
fillet, and an inner concave quarter-round moulded order. Chancel:
4-light east window with intersecting tracery incorporating geometric
shapes, and Decorated windows to the north and south with hood moulds
and block stops. On the south side, in the angle with the nave, is a
C19 polygonal turret which serves as a small vestry. Interior: 3-bay
north arcade of double chamfered pointed arches on octagonal columns
with moulded capitals. The chancel arch has a continuous outer chamfer
and an inner chamfer springing from engaged half columns; the tower
arch is segmental pointed with a continuous roll-moulding. C15/C16
nave roof of low pitch on cambered tie beams supported by brackets
which spring from wooden corbels. On the soffit of each tie beam is a
carved boss (c.f. Church of St. Margaret, Stoke Golding C.P.; Church of
St. Mary, Barwell C.P.); purlins and ridge piece are all moulded.
Similar roof over north aisle. C19 arch-braced collar roof over
chancel.
Fixtures and fittings: C15 octagonal stone font with trefoil-headed
arcading to the sides of the basin of the same type as that on the
parapet of the tower. C19/C20 octagonal wooden pulpit entered from a
door in the south-east corner of the nave which communicates with the
vestry to the rear. In the east bay of the north aisle are a piscina
and a recess, probably for an image; both have ogee heads and their
presence suggests that this part of the church was occupied by a
chapel. C14 sedilia with cusping above and below the ogee arches.
Monuments: In the nave, a pedimented tablet to Richard and Theodisia
Farmer, died 1764 and 1768; scrolls to the sides. Oval plaque on a
tablet surmounted by a fluted urn to Isaac Whyley and other members of
his family; after 1821. In the chancel, tablets to the Reverend James
Roberts, died 1842, and Edward James Chamberlayne, died 1887, the
latter of red veined marble with the sacred monogram at the base, set
in gold mosaic. Stained glass: medieval remnants in the south windows
of the nave; a madonna and child, a piper within a roundel, and a
heraldic shield. B.O.E. p.428.

Listing NGR: SP3251697339

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17525558

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

• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version