St Peter's Church, Letwell, is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Letwell Letwell is a rural village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England, on the border with Nottinghamshire. It lies between Dinnington and Langold, off the B6463 road. It sits at an elevation of around ...

Background

The Church of St Peter is found at the west end of the village of

, near

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

, in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

. The church was built around 1375 by John Mauleverer, but has been substantially altered several times.Heritage Inspired website
/ref> Much of the church was later rebuilt in 1820, at the expense of

Henry Gally Knight Henry Gally Knight, Fellow of the Royal Society, F.R.S. (2 December 1786 – 9 February 1846) was a British politician, traveller and writer. Biography Knight was the only son of Henry Gally (afterwards Gally Knight), barrister, of Langold, and ...

FRS, the owner of Firbeck Hall, but was largely destroyed by fire a few decades later. The church today consists of the 14th century

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

with a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

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

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

. It is Grade II* listed.

1867 fire

The tower, along with the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

are all that remain of the church following a fire which occurred in 1867. The fire was inadvertently started by one Harry Radley, who was sexton at the time. In response to complaints from the parishioners that they were too cold, he had over-stoked the coal-fired boiler which led to the fire.Bailey, D. 'A Visitor's Guide to the Parish of Firbeck with Letwell and Woodsetts' (2002) The church was re-built and decorated in its current form at the expense of

Sir Thomas White, 2nd Baronet Sir Thomas Woollaston White, 2nd Baronet, of Tuxford and Wallingwells (3 October 1801 – 7 August 1882), was 16 years old when he succeeded his father Sir Thomas White, 1st Baronet, in his titles and estates. Being a minor when he succeeded, he ...

, the son of the famous soldier

Sir Thomas White, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Woollaston White, 1st Baronet, of Tuxford and Wallingwells (20 January 1767 – 28 October 1817), was the eldest son and heir of Taylor and Sarah White. His grandfather, also named Taylor White, was the founding Treasurer of The Fou ...

, of

Tuxford Tuxford is a historic market town and a civil parish in the Bassetlaw District, Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England. It had a population of 2,809 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Geography Its nearby towns are Oll ...

and

Wallingwells Wallingwells is a small civil parish and hamlet in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England, with a population at the 2001 census of 22. The population remained less than 100 at the 2011 census, details were included in the civi ...

, who twice raised the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry Cavalry at his own expense. Much of the decoration in the church was contributed by Sir Thomas' daughters.

Organ

The church is unusual as it still uses a

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

instead of an

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

. The harmonium, dating from the 19th century, was constructed by the Estey Organ Company of

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a New England town, town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located about north of the Massachusetts state line at the confluence of Vermont's West River (Vermont), West River and the Connec ...

Churchyard

The

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

is a designated Grade III Botanical site.

Current use

It is part of the

Diocese of Sheffield The Diocese of Sheffield is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. The Diocese of Sheffield was created under George V on 23 January 1914, by the division from the Diocese of York (along with that pa ...

, now under the joint

Benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

of St Martin,

Firbeck Firbeck is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England, on the border with Nottinghamshire. It lies between Maltby and Oldcotes, off the A634 and B6463 roads. Firbeck had a population of ...

, with St Peter, Letwell and St George,

Woodsetts Woodsetts is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England, on the border with Nottinghamshire. It lies between the towns of Dinnington and Worksop at an elevation of around 60 metres above se ...

and holds worship every Sunday, alternating

Matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning (between midnight and dawn). The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which w ...

and

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...

References