The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a church in

Preston, Rutland Preston is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It lies north of Uppingham on the A6003 to Oakham. The population at the 2001 census was 179 falling slightly to 173 at the 2011 census. The village ...

. It is a

Grade II* listed building 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 ...

History

The church has 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 ...

, tower, north and south aisles,

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 ...

and a

chancel 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. Ove ...

. The bay of the north aisle dates back to c1150 and the south from c1200. The tower dates to the 13th century and a century later, remodelling took place. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

, a plain bowl on four cylindrical legs, dates to the 13th century. The chancel dates to the 13th century; the

sedile In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the d ...

has a

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...

-headed arch. The stone

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

, the design of

Edward Browning Edward Browning (1816 – 1882) was an English architect working in Stamford, Lincolnshire, Stamford. Life Edward Browning or Edward Bailey Browning was the son of the Stamford architect Bryan Browning (architect), Bryan Browning (1773-185 ...

, incorporates a marble relief by

Mario Raggi Mario Raggi (1821–26 November 1907) was an Italian sculptor who settled in England where he received several public commissions for statues of civic figures. Biography Raggi was born at Carrara, Italy where he learnt to sculpt, and won severa ...

; it was placed in the chancel in 1881 in memory of former rector, William Belgrave. The stained glass in the east window is by Alfred Gérente (1856). The chancel has some lamps which came from the

Street called Straight Straight Street, from the Latin Via Recta ( ar, الشارع المستقيم ''al-Shāriʿ al-Mustaqīm''), known as the Street called Straight ( gr, τήν ῥύμην τήν καλουμένην εὐθείαν) in the New Testament, is the ol ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, and it has a carved

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

stone. Lt. Col. J. A. Codrington presented these

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

ern items to the church in 1923. Two

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

pieces from the Church of St John the Baptist, Constantinople and a piece of

Verde Antique Verd antique (obsolete French, from Italian, ''verde antico'', "ancient green"), also called verde antique, ''marmor thessalicum'', or Ophite, is a serpentinite breccia popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone. It is a dark, dul ...

from St Sophia's Church in Nicaea (İznik), are just some of the items he donated. The

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

trees outside the church, were grown from seeds collected from the

Garden of Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great resona ...

References

{{coord, 52.61218, -0.71642, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Preston Preston