Parish Church of St Peter - Church End Arlesey - geograph

Church of St Peter is a Grade I listed church in

Arlesey Arlesey ( ) is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire. It is near the border with Hertfordshire, about three miles north-west of Letchworth Garden City, four miles north of Hitchin and six miles south of Biggleswade. Arlesey railway station p ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, England. It became a listed building on 31 October 1966.

History

Internal evidence dates the church to originally be from the 12th century, as only a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. Aisles were later added in the 13th and 14th centuries. In the 1600s, the original tower collapsed and was replaced by a small wooden belfry for many years. A nearby building that used to serv as a

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

and

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...

was demolished in 1855 and replaced by the current vestry. The current tower was built in 1877.

Architecture

The nave is 64 feet long by 17 feet wide. The chancel adds 16 feet in length with a width of 26 feet. The two aisles add around 10 ft each. The modern tower is around 12 feet square.

References

Church of England church buildings in Bedfordshire Grade I listed churches in Bedfordshire {{England-church-stub

See also

History

Architecture

References