Description

STOURTON WITH GASPER HIGH STREET
ST 73 SE
(south side)
6/135 Church of St Peter
6.1.66
GV I
Anglican parish church. Early C14, C15, 1720s, early Cl9 and 1877
restoration, 1848 south aisle. Dressed limestone, tiled chancel
roof, lead nave roof. West tower, nave with aisles, chancel with
south organ chamber, north chapel and porch. Square flat-roofed
north porch with Tudor-arched doorway and C20 double doors, plain
parapet, aisle has 4-light Perpendicular window to right and three
4-light to left of porch, parapet with pierced triangles,
clerestory has four late C14 three-light windows, parapet with
cusped lozenges. East end of aisle has 4-light Perpendicular
window. Chancel east window blocked 1937, south window late C14,
coped verge with cross finial. 1877 vestry/organ chamber has
polygonal east end, C19 door and cusped lancets, early c19 family
pew has 4-light window and coped verge with missing finial. 1848
south aisle has 4-light window, parapet as north aisle, clerestory
with four 3-light Perpendicular windows, parapet. West window of
south aisle is reset C15, north aisle has 4-light Perpendicular
window. Three-stage tower with diagonal buttresses carried up to
clasping buttresses, moulded plinth, blocked west doorway, C19
square-headed window over, pointed south doorway, middle stage has
1848 gilded clockface, bellstage has 2-light Perpendicular windows
with pierced wooden louvres, battlemented parapet with gargoyles.
Interior: Porch has C19 double chamfered Tudor-arched doorway with
double doors, fragments of reset C15 mouldings in side walls. Nave
has C19 four-bay ribbed ceiling on gilded angel corbels. Early C14
north arcade of 3 1/2 bays; cylindrical columns with double chamfered
pointed arches, second from east is triple chamfered. C19 south
arcade in same style as north. Continuously double chamfered tower
arch with C19 screen, steps up to exterior south door, blocked west
door with stoup retained on north side. Double chamfered chancel
arch with evidence of former rood loft, including narrow chamfered
doorway high up on south side, 1877 stone pulpit and dwarf wall
across arch, C19 three-bay arch-braced collar roof with cusped
windbracing, 1877 organ chamber to right through moulded archway
with C19 ogee doorway and aumbry to left. 1937 altar and statue of
Christ in niche in blocked east window. North chapel has large
monument with canopied niches and Perpendicular blind tracery,
recumbent effigies of Fifth Lord Stourton, died 1536, and his wife,
C12 cylindrical stone font from Monkton Deverill, also various C17
and C18 floor tablets to members of Stourton family, north window
has some late C15 stained glass. Other fittings: 1877 pews, Hoare
family pew on south side of nave has 1840s seating and panelled
dado and fireplace on south wall, C20 brasses and plaques to Hoare
family. Monuments in the south aisle to Hoare family reset here in
C19; fine marble monument against south wall to Henry Hoare died
1785, creator of Stourhead Gardens, signed by C. Harris, 1789,
another on east wall to Henry Hoare died 1724 with broken pediment,
corinthian columns and flanking urns. White marble monument to
Hester Hoare died 1785 with inscription recording its erection by
Richard colt Hoare who died 1838. Nave walls have mostly C19
classical marble tablets to Hoares and others, gilded plaque on
north aisle to record restoration in 1722-23 by Nathaniel Ireson,
mason of Stourhead House and John Butcher, churchwardens.
Recumbent effigy of woman in north aisle, probably Lady Stourton
died c1400, cartouche over to Mary Ireson, wife of Nathaniel, died
1723. An important element in the Stourhead landscape and
connected with its creators the Hoares from the C18 to C20.
(N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Wiltshire, 1975; K.
Woodbridge, The Stourhead Landscape, 1982)

Listing NGR: ST7763833944

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529961

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

• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)