St Peter's Church is in Eastgate Street in the centre of the city of
Chester,
Cheshire,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, immediately to the north of
Chester Cross. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...
as a designated Grade I
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 ...
.
It is an active
Church of England parish church in the
diocese of Chester
The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside.
History
Ancient diocese
Before the si ...
, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester. The ancient walls mark the boundaries of the parish.
History
The church stands on the site of part of the
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 lette ...
Praetorium
The Latin term (also and ) originally identified the tent of a general within a Roman castrum (encampment), and derived from the title praetor, which identified a Roman magistrate.Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 2 ed., ...
, and some of its fabric dates from that time.
A church is said to have been built on this site by
Ethelfleda in 907. The present church dates from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, with modifications in the following three centuries. Formerly, the tower had a spire, which was removed and rebuilt in the 16th century, taken down in the 17th century, then rebuilt and finally removed
"having been much injured by lightning" in around 1780.
In 1849–50, the church was repaired by
James Harrison,
and in 1886 it was
restored by
John Douglas, which included the addition of a pyramidal spire.
Architecture
Exterior
The church is built of red
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
and is approximately square in plan. Its floor is at the level of the adjacent Watergate Row and the church is entered by a flight of seven stone steps on the south face. At the west end there is an embraced tower that rises one stage above the roof, with a clock and a bell opening of two lights. The top is
crenellated
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 ...
, with
crocket
A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier.
Description
...
ed
pinnacles and a pyramidal
slate spire.
Interior
Inside the church is a continuous
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
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.
Ov ...
with four
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...
s. The west end is attached to and extends behind the backs of the adjacent buildings. Over the outer aisles and at the west end are galleries.
The
baptistry lies below the tower. On the northeast
pier
Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...
is a
niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
that formerly contained a statue of the
Virgin and Child
In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent ...
, and surrounding it is the best-preserved
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
wall painting in Cheshire.
On the south wall under the gallery are three
corbels with medieval carvings of an angel, a woman and an old man.
The
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
font is dated 1662. In the south aisle attached to a pier is a 15th-century
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
thought to depict a lawyer, and elsewhere in the church are memorials from the 17th century
and two memorial boards by the
Randle Holme
Randle Holme was a name shared by members of four successive generations of a family who lived in Chester, Cheshire, England from the late years of the 16th century to the early years of the 18th century. They were all herald painters and gen ...
family.
[ The stained glass in the east window dates from 1863 and is by ]Heaton, Butler and Bayne
Heaton, Butler and Bayne were an English firm who produced stained-glass windows from 1862 to 1953.
History
Clement Heaton (1824–82) Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane, p. 371 ...
. Glass in a window on the southeast of the church is by Clayton and Bell
Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832 ...
, and there is a west window by Trena Cox
Trena is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Trena Cox (1895–1980), English artist
* Trena King (born 1958), American archer
* Trena Trice-Hill (born 1965), American basketball player
See also
* Trina (name)
Trina is a com ...
.[ The organ has two manuals and was built by Whiteley. There is a ]ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
of six bells. Five of these which are dated 1709 are by Rudhall of Gloucester
Rudhall of Gloucester was a family business of bell founders in the city of Gloucester, England, who between 1684 and 1835 cast more than 5,000 bells.
History
There had been a tradition of bell casting in Gloucester since before the 14th century. ...
and the other, dated 1921, is by John Taylor and Company. The parish register
A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...
s date from 1559 and the churchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...
s' accounts from 1626, although the volume dating from 1686 to 1803 has been lost.
See also
* Grade I listed churches in Cheshire
Cheshire is a county in North West England. In 1974 parts of the historical county of Cheshire were transferred to Greater Manchester and to Merseyside, and parts of the historical county of Lancashire were incorporated into Cheshire, includ ...
*
*
* List of works by Thomas Harrison
Thomas Harrison was an English architect who flourished in the last two decades of the 18th century and the first three decades of the 19th century. Little is known of his early life, and his precise date of birth is not known. He wa ...
References
External links
Photographs of the church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chester, St Peter's Church
Church of England church buildings in Cheshire
Grade I listed churches in Cheshire
English Gothic architecture in Cheshire
St Peter's Church
Diocese of Chester
John Douglas buildings
Thomas Harrison buildings
Grade I listed buildings in Chester