The Church of St Peter and St Paul is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the village of

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, England. It is in the parish of Rock with Heightington, in the Diocese of Worcester. The building is

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

; the north door and chancel arch are notable features dating from the 12th century.

History and description

The oldest parts of the church, the nave and the western part of the chancel, are 12th-century. The north wall is mostly in its original condition. The north door has a Norman arch of four orders, richly decorated with varieties of chevron patterns and

embattled A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

ornament.'Parishes: Rock or Aka', in ''A History of the County of Worcester: Volume 4'', ed. William Page and J W Willis-Bund (London, 1924), pp. 319-328
British History Online. Retrieved 27 January 2020. The 12th-century

chancel arch In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Over ...

is elaborately decorated, having three orders on the nave side and two on the chancel side: there are varieties of chevron patterns; the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

s and

abaci The abacus (''plural'' abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool which has been used since ancient times. It was used in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the Hi ...

have ornaments of grotesque figures and foliage. The font is 12th-century; the circular bowl has strapwork decoration. At the west end of the nave is an oak dug-out chest studded with nails, probably 13th-century.

14th century

In the 14th century the chancel was extended and a small north vestry (more recently converted into a heating chamber) was added. The open-timber

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

ed chancel roof, and the similarly constructed nave roof, are probably of the 14th century.

16th century and later

St Peter and St Paul, Rock (geograph 6138216)

In 1510 Sir Humphrey Coningsby built the south chapel, the south aisle and the tower. The tower has three stages, diagonal buttresses and a parapet with battlements. There is a medieval altar slab in the south chapel. The church was restored in 1861 by

Frederick Preedy Frederick Preedy (2 June 1820 – 28 March 1898) was an architect and glass painter in England. Life Preedy was born in Offenham near Evesham in Worcestershire and died at his son's home in Croydon. During his early life his family moved fro ...

. The tower was restored in 1881.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock, Church of St Peter and St Paul Grade I listed churches in Worcestershire Church of England church buildings in Worcestershire English churches with Norman architecture

History and description

14th century

16th century and later

See also

References