St Peter's Church, Lampeter, is the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales () is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The position is currently held b ...

parish church for the University town of

Lampeter Lampeter (; (formal); ''Llambed'' (colloquial)) is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, after Aberystwyth and C ...

. It is a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

listed building, and has been described as "the best Victorian church in the county f Ceredigion. Though a church has stood on the site since the medieval period, the present building dates to the latter half of the nineteenth century.

History

A Church dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

was first recorded on the site in 1291, from which the town partly took its name. This was replaced by a new and poorly built church by W. Wittington of Neath during the years 1836–8. This building, in turn, was replaced by the current church, designed by the English ecclesiastical architect R. J. Withers, and built during the years 1867–70.

Description

The church consists of a nave, three-bay south aisle, chancel, north vestry, and south-west tower over the porch. It was built in the

High Victorian Gothic High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right. Prom ...

style, and constructed of "grey-brown snecked rubble stone with ashlar dressings." The church's windows are worth noting - especially the west window by

Wilhelmina Geddes Wilhelmina Geddes HRUA (25 May 1887 – 10 August 1955) was an Irish stained glass artist who was an important figure within the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and also the twentieth-century British stained glass revival. Notable works include wi ...

. Made during the years 1938-45 and installed in 1946, the west window was commissioned as a memorial to Sir John Charles Harford of Falcondale House.{{Cite web, url=https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=st-peters-church-lampeter, title=History Points - St Peter's Church, Lampeter, website=historypoints.org, access-date=2020-03-23 In the porch are several monuments - survivals from the earlier church that include a Baroque stone panel in memory of Lady Jane Lloyd of Maesyfelin, who died in 1706.

Churchyard

In the south-west section of the churchyard are the graves of the paupers who lived at Lampeter Workhouse. In the north section are the graves of many of the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

people who, during and after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, made a home for themselves in Lampeter.

References

Church in Wales church buildings in Ceredigion Ceredigion