St Peter's Church is in the village of

Little Budworth Little Budworth is a civil parish and village between Winsford and Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was ...

, Cheshire, England. The church 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 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 ...

. It is an active Anglican

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

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 Middlewich. Its benefice is combined with that of St Mary, Whitegate. The church stands on the highest point in the village and its tower dominates views of the area. There is disagreement about the correct dedication of the church. The historian

George Ormerod George Ormerod (20 October 1785 – 9 October 1873) was an English antiquary and historian. Among his writings was a major county history of Cheshire, in North West England. Biography George Ormerod was born in Manchester and educated first ...

, writing in 1816, stated that it was dedicated to St Mary and All Saints. However a bequest in 1526 was made by Hugh Starkey of Oulton to "St. Peter of Budworth" and the church is usually now referred to as St Peter's. Another source considers the full original dedication might have been to "St Mary, St Peter and All Saints".

History

The existence of a church on the site was recorded in 1190. The present west tower was erected between 1490 and 1526. The body of the church was rebuilt in stone in 1800 following a bequest from Ralph Kirkham, a wealthy merchant of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. This consisted 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 ...

and

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

with no architectural division, which Richards describes as being "a poor attempt at imitation of the classical style". The Egerton family of nearby

Oulton Hall Oulton Hall in Oulton, West Yorkshire, is a Grade II listed building in England. It was once the home of the Blayds/Calverley family. After a major fire in 1850 the hall was remodelled, but its fortunes declined until it was revived for use as ...

were benefactors of the church. Their family

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

was in the church. This was sealed in 1870. In 1870–71 the interior was restored by the Chester architect John Douglas, the restoration including the removal of pews, a gallery and the ceiling. By 1936 the roof timbers were becoming unsafe and they were replaced by a steel roof.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in 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 ...

ashlar with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a west tower with a four- bay nave 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 ...

in one range. The tower has diagonal

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 ( ...

es and is in three stages, the stages being divided by string courses. The lowest stage includes an arched west door above which is a three-light window and over this an empty

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 ...

. On the south face is a clock face dated 1785 inscribed with the names of 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. The topmost stage has three-light louvred bell openings on each face. The top of the tower has an embattled

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'). ...

. On the south face is a round-arched door in the west bay and three round-arched two-light windows, and on the north face are four similar windows. The east end has a round-arched three-light window.

Interior

The ceilings of the nave and chancel are plastered barrel vaults. The pulpit dates from the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

period, and the painted font from the 17th century. The latter has a

fluted Fluting may refer to: *Fluting (architecture) * Fluting (firearms) * Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump ''Fluting on the Hump'' is the first album by avant-garde band Kin ...

bowl with a scrolled cover resting on an octagonal base. It is one of the few painted fonts remaining in the county. The pulpit dates probably from about 1800, and has

angle

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s. Also in the church is a 19th-century family pew. Memorials to members of the Egerton family include a

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 ...

relating to an incident in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

. Philip R. Egerton donated to the church a painting by Caravaggio, or a member of his school, depicting '' The Deposition from the Cross''. A few fragments of pre-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

stained glass remain. A war memorial in stained glass to members of the Egerton family lost in the First World War 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 ...

. The organ is a highly original two-manual instrument by

William Hill & Sons William Hill & Son was one of the main organ builders in England during the 19th century. The founder William Hill was born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire in 1789. He married Mary, the daughter of organ-builder Thomas Elliot, on 30 October 1818 i ...

of London, which is thought to date from about 1860. It still retains its original hand-pumped bellows. In the tower arch is an etched window dating from 2002. 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 five bells. Three of these, dated 1714, 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. ...

. Of the others, one is by John Warner and Sons dated 1884, and the other is by James Barwell and is dated 1893. 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 begin in 1561.

External features

The churchyard, divided into "Old Ground" and "New Ground", contains the war graves of four soldiers of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, three of which are in the New Ground.

Notes

Concerning the attribution of the painting, the authors of the ''

Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were publish ...

'' series make the comment "good (but not at all Caravaggio)".

References

External links

Photographs of the church by Craig ThornberMedieval stained glass information from CVMA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peters Church, Little Budworth Churches completed in 1526 Churches completed in 1800 Little Budworth, St Peter's Church Little Budworth, St Peter's Church Little Budworth, St Peter's Church Little Budworth, St Peter's Church Little Budworth, St Peter's Church Little Budworth, St Peter's Church 1526 establishments in England Neoclassical church buildings in England