Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SE EASTGATE STREET AND ROW
595-1/4/150 (North side)
28/07/55 Church of St Peter
(Formerly Listed as:
EASTGATE STREET
Church of St Peter)

GV I

Parish church, now church and Christian centre. Said to have
been founded by Ethelfleda in 907, the present structure is
C14, C15 and C16, altered and restored C17, C18 and C19. Red
sandstone; roof not visible.
PLAN: approximately square in plan. The north aisle contained
beneath floor level the undercroft of a medieval town house,
filled and paved over. Embraced west tower, formerly with
spire; continuous nave and chancel of 4 aisles with floor at
level of Watergate Row.
EXTERIOR: south face: flight of 7 stone steps leads to south
doors and to Watergate Row. Replaced diagonal-boarded double
doors in restored archway; 3 rectangular windows, 1886-9, of 4
lights with 3 Decorated windows above, rebuilt in
Perpendicular style 1886-9; stonework of south face partly
removed by Thomas Harrison 1803, where the Pentice (Council
Chamber) was removed. The tower rises one stage above roof,
with clock, bell opening of 2 cusped lights, crenellation,
crocketed pinnacles and a pyramid roof of slate in the manner
of John Douglas, late C19, with its faces interrupted by a
continuous, horizontal louvre; wind vane; there was formerly a
spire, removed and rebuilt C16, taken down C17, then rebuilt
and finally removed C18.
The west end, partly behind the Victoria public house, Nos 2 &
4 Watergate Street and Row (qv), has a plain face to the
tower. The north windows of the Perpendicular north aisle have
panel tracery. The east end has 2 low-pitched gables, plainly
expressed. The 2 central aisles of the nave have traceried
windows larger than that of the south aisle, formerly the
chapel of St George; the north aisle, now containing the
organ, has an inserted rectangular window of 2 lights.
INTERIOR: the 3-bay arcades do not match the window bays. The
tower piers, rectangular in plan, support a ribbed vault of 8
panels over the baptistry, with a circular bell-hole. The
north-east pier has a damaged medieval fresco around a niche
which held a Virgin and Child. The 2 southern arcades with
through mouldings are Decorated, the northern arcade
Perpendicular, dated 1535-38. The outer north aisle has a

lean-to roof of low pitch with arch-braced main beams which
have carved foliar bosses, and carved spandrels of 3 trusses;
the inner north aisle has a restored camber-beam roof; the
inner south aisle has shallow king-post trusses; the roof to
the outer south aisle is replaced. Galleries were first
recorded in 1637, but were altered C18 and C19; they cover the
outer north and south aisles and part of the west end. 2
carved corbel stones project from the south wall; a C15
bronze, said to commemorate a lawyer; pews probably mid to
late C19; east window glass 1862 and 1963, one to Prince
Albert; monument on north wall, c1750, to Henry Bennett; bells
by Rudhall of Gloucester, 1709.
(Cheshire Sites and Monuments Record: Collens J: Chester City:
3007/12/1).

Listing NGR: SJ4052866303

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Peter's Church, Chester at Wikipedia
• St Peter's Church, Chester official website
• Wikidata Q7595228

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)