St Peter's Church is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

Barrowden Barrowden is a village in Rutland in the East Midlands of England. ] The village's name means 'burial-mound hill'. There are a number of Tumulus, barrows in the area. The population of the civil parish was 506 at the 2011 census. There is a ...

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest l ...

. It is a

Grade II* 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 I ...

building.

History

Parts of the church date back to c1210. In the 13th century the northern and southern aisles were built and in the 14th century the western tower. There is a modern southern door, a Norman Romanesque doorway and 12th century ironwork. The font is an

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A ''regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, wh ...

al design. The roof of the chancel has six medieval, wooden angels. There are some nave arcades built in the 13th century. Courtesy of a rector, there is a bench end situated in the chancel which has been dated to 1631. In the 19th century it was made into a prayer desk. A section of the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

, built 1605, has been made into a bookcase. There is a freestone memorial to Rowland Durant on the northern wall of the northern aisle. The church is dedicated to St Peter. In an ancient tradition, rushes or hay are laid on the floors of nave and porch for

St Peter's Day The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul or Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul is a liturgical feast in honor, of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which is observed on 29 June. The celebration is of ancient Christ ...

(29 June).

Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was an English businessman. He is best known for founding the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was also one of the initial developers of the " package tour" including travel, accommodati ...

married Marianne Mason in the church in 1833.

References

Grade II* listed churches in Rutland, Barrowden {{England-church-stub