CHURCH OF ST PETER

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: I
List Entry Number:: 1044828
Date first listed:: 15-Apr-1969
List Entry Name:: CHURCH OF ST PETER
Statutory Address:: CHURCH OF ST PETER

User submitted image — Uploaded by Historic England Archive This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.

Date:: 2002-04-10
Reference:: IOE01/05180/33
Rights:: © Mr Bob Cottrell. Source: Historic England Archive

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: I
List Entry Number:: 1044828
Date first listed:: 15-Apr-1969
List Entry Name:: CHURCH OF ST PETER
Statutory Address 1:: CHURCH OF ST PETER

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: CHURCH OF ST PETER

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Northumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Bywell
National Grid Reference:: NZ 04926 61428

Details

BYWELL BYWELL NZ 0461 23/60 Church of St.Peter 15.4.69 GV I

Parish Church. Nave and parts of chancel Pre-Conquest, possibly C8. Chancel remodelled and south aisle built in early C13; west end shortened later C13 (probably after 1285 fire), tower and north chapel early C14. Alterations by Benjamin Ferrey in 1849 included rebuilding of south aisle and porch, and addition of vestry; further alterations 1873. Pre-Conquest parts squared stone with megalithic alternate quoins, chancel and north chapel squared stone, tower coursed rubble, C19 parts tooled squared stone. Leaded roofs to nave and chancel, Lakeland slates to south aisle, porch and vestry. Nave with west tower, 4-bay south aisle with porch and 2-bay north-east chapel; chancel with south chapel and north vestry.

Squat tower with chamfered set-back at mid-height on north and west. West wall shows doorway with chamfered arch and hood; to right blocked upper door with segmental relieving arch. Belfry openings are paired lancets except for crude square-headed east opening. Embattled parapet on hollow-chamfered string.

Steeply-gabled porch has trefoiled chamfered arch, stone benches and built-in cross slabs and sculptural fragments; chamfered doorway with part of moulded reconquest arch re-set above.

South aisle (continued eastwards as chapel) has stepped buttresses, single and paired lancets and older masonry in end walls with C19 windows. North wall of nave has 2 similar windows, stepped buttress at west end, traces of blocked openings and, at high level, 4 early round-headed windows with monolithic lintels, the western altered. North chapel has moulded plinth and parapet; 2-light north windows with Geometrical tracery under square heads; springings of unfinished chamfered arches. Ends of chapel have stepped buttresses and similar 4-light windows.

Chancel has chamfered plinth, sill band and traces of blocked south door. 3 lancets on south and triplet to east, all under hoodmoulds. Stepped clasping buttresses and low buttress beneath centre eastern lancet. North wall shows Lancet behind vestry and window further west of 2 trefoil-headed lights (monolithic head is re-used cross slab). At west end of wall blocked early door with inclined Escomb-fashion jambs and roof raggle of former gabled porticus above. Coped gables with finial crosses.

South arcade has pointed double-chamfered arches on tall round piers with moulded octagonal caps; hoodmould has crowned head as stop over central pier. Round-arched piscina in chancel. C19 detail in keeping. Low-side window of 2 square-headed lights now opening into south chapel. Re-sited shouldered doorway to vestry.

Interior of tower: west doorway of late C13 nave, with tall hoodmould, now opens into tower. Remains of 2 buttresses and lancet window of late C13 west front also visible.

Plain medieval font has circular bowl on moulded stem. C15 incised effigy of knight under trapdoor in north chapel. 3 elaborate Baroque candelabra in chancel. Late C19 glass in north chapel; series of saints, all to members of Wailes family and perhaps by Wailes the glassmaker of Saltwell Park. Similar glass in chancel.

Pre-Conquest church was of unusual size; partially-exposed footings suggest attendant porticus and other structures. The incomplete arches to the north may have been intended to link the church with monastic buildings. Bishop Egbert of Lindisfarne was consecrated at Bywell, probably in this church, on 11 June 802.

H.M. and J. Taylor, 'Anglo-Saxon Architecture' Vol I (1965) 122-126.

Listing NGR: NZ0492661427

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 239821
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Taylor, H M, J , , Anglo Saxon Architecture, (1965), 122-126

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.