St Peter's Church, Tiverton is a

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 ...

parish church in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Tiverton, Devon Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587. History Early history The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-fo ...

History

The church dates from 1073. Several restorations have been undertaken, in 1825–1829 by G.A. Boyce, and in 1853–1856 by

Edward Ashworth Edward Ashworth (1814 – 1896) was an English artist and architect from Devon, England, considered to be the West Country's leading ecclesiastical architect. He was elected a member of the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society in 1847.Bury Or ...

of Exeter. The church was described by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

as "a gorgeously ostentatious display of civic pride". The building was designated as Grade I listed in 1952.

Organ

The earliest records of organs in the church are in 1524, but the current organ dates from 1696 by Christian Smith. There have been subsequent modifications by Andrews and Shirland (1711),

John Snetzler John Snetzler (or Schnetzler) was an organ builder of Swiss origin, who worked mostly in England. Born in Schaffhausen in 1710, he trained with the firm of Egedacher in Passau and came to London about 1741. When he retired in 1781, his business ...

(1770),

Henry Willis Henry Willis (27 April 1821 – 11 February 1901), also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in busin ...

(1867) and Noel Mander (1967). A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register. The church is noted as being the location of the first performance of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" which was performed by

Samuel Reay Samuel Reay (17 March 1828 – 21 July 1905) was an organist and composer based in England. Life He was born on 17 March 1828, the son of George Agnew Reay, organist of Hexham Abbey, and Eleanor Spraggon. His father moved to Ryton on Tyne and ...

at the wedding of Dorothy Carew and Tom Daniel on 2 June 1847.

References

External links

* http://www.stpeterstiverton.org.uk/ * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiverton Saint Peter, Tiverton Church of England church buildings in Devon Grade I listed churches in Devon Burial sites of the Wesley family