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St Peter at Arches, Church, Lincoln was an ancient church in
Lincoln, England, that was demolished and re-built by either
Francis or William Smith of Warwick. The church was sited just to the north of the junction of the High Street and Silver Street and close to the
Guildhall and Stonebow, Lincoln.
The 1720–24 Church
While the architect of St Peter's was either Francis or William Smith, the supervision of its construction was entrusted to
Abraham Hayward, who came from
Whitchurch, Shropshire
Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies east of the Wales, Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border, north of the county town of Shrewsbury, south of Chester, and east of Wrexham. At the 2021 Unit ...
. The design of the church owes much to
St Alkmund's Church, Whitchurch. Abraham Hayward built himself a house on a site adjacent St Peter's church, which had previously been the Taylors' Hall in Lincoln. The Haywards were to become a leading family of architects and builders in Lincoln for the next 100 years. This church was built with stone from the
Roche Abbey
Roche Abbey is a now-ruined abbey in the civil parish of Maltby, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It is in the valley of Maltby Dyke, known locally as Maltby Beck, and is administered by English Heritage. It is a scheduled monument and Gra ...
quarries from Yorkshire. For many years St Peter at Arches acted as the Corporation church of the City of Lincoln.
The chancel and apse of the church were decorated with a fresco of the Ascension by the Venetian artist
Vincenzo Damini who also carried out some work at
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...
. Damini's oil ''modello'' for the work survives.
Demolition and reconstruction 1932 to 1936–38
St Peter at Arches Church was demolished in 1932 together with the Buttermarket, an early
Georgian building of 1737, which stood immediately to the north of the church facing the High Street. Material from the church was used to construct
St Giles Church in Lamb Gardens on the St Giles Estate on the north-east side of Lincoln in 1936. The architect was W. G. Watkins (son of
William Watkins). The plan of the rebuilt church is similar to that of the old church, but it has been lengthened by one bay and it was rebuilt in brick re-using the stone dressings from the old church. The gabled and
rusticated front of the Buttermarket was rebuilt to plans by the architect Robert Atkinson in 1938 on a site on Sincil Street, just south of the
river Witham
The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...
. This building continues to serve as an enlarged market hall.
Norwich Union House was constructed on the site St Peter's Church in 1936, in a classical
Neo-Georgian style by the architect Phillip Nicholls of Leeds.
The frontages on High Street and Silver street are brick faced with an
ashlar
Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones.
Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
stone faced shop frontage at the corner. The Lincoln City coat of arms is centrally placed with a rectangular
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout.
The word derives, via Ital ...
above. On either side are two stone urns on a ledge, which were on the tower of St Peter's church.
["Antram", (1989), pg520 .]
See also
*
Churches in Lincoln
References
Literature
*Antram N (revised), Pevsner N & Harris J, (1989), ''The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire'', Yale University Press.
*Colvin H. A. (1995), ''Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840''. Yale University Press, 3rd edition London, pg.885–6.
*Gomme A. (2000), ''Smith of Warwick. Francis Smith, Architect and Master-Builder''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peter at Arches
Former churches in England
Churches in Lincoln, England