The Anglican Church of St Peter and St Paul in
Wincanton within the English county of
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
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 ...
.
The Church of St Peter and St Paul was almost totally rebuilt 1887-91 by
J. D. Sedding
John Dando Sedding (13 April 1838 – 7 April 1891) was an English church architect, working on new buildings and repair work, with an interest in a "crafted Gothic" style. He was an influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, many of wh ...
, however parts of the tower may be remnants form an earlier church, dating from 1313, on the same site.
History
Little of the original church remains but it is known that in 1748
Nathaniel Ireson, a local architect built and paid for a new
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 ...
, which has been removed in subsequent renovations, and carved several of the memorial tablets.
[ In 1793 the tower was raised by making it high, five bells were cast and a sixth added.
Because of the state of the roofs, which are under repair, the church is included on the Heritage at Risk Register.
]
Architecture
The stone building has almost flat lead roofs behind parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
s. It consists of 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 ...
, chancel, north 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, parl ...
and a double width south aisle, organ chamber, lady chapel, and north porch. The porch which was built in 1891 has a Calvary scene above the arch. The three-stage tower is supported by diagonal offset buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es and a corner stair turret. The east window has stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
by Clayton and Bell which was installed in 1889.[
]
Churchyard
The churchyard includes a self designed and carved monument to Nathaniel Ireson who died in 1769.[ Another memorial, erected early in the 19th century is to Elliot Grasset Thomas and his family. Only the plinth with his coat of arms survives from the original structure.
The stone walls and gateways around the churchyard were built in 1818. The north east gateway is the largest of several entrances to the site.]
See also
*
References
{{reflist
Wincanton
Grade II* listed churches in Somerset
Grade II* listed buildings in South Somerset
Wincanton