Church of St Peter

Details

SO 39 SW MORE C.P. MORE

6/15 Church of St Peter 2.2.68 GV II*

Parish church. C13 and 1640; rebuilt 1845 and extended 1871. Coursed rubble, slate to tower and chancel roofs, plain tiles to nave and north transept. Nave, chancel, west tower, long north transept and vestry. Massive squat tower probably early C13; paired lancet window in west wall and pointed doorway to south of 1845, above, narrow rectangular slit openings are original; the tower is capped by the 'double pyramidal top', characteristic of the area (c.f. Clun and Hopesay), and which probably dates to C17; roughcast belfry with 2 lines of wooden louvres surmounted by a pyramidal roof with weathercock. Long buttressed nave of 5 bays in the lancet style of 1845, all the windows have hoodmoulds except one smaller lancet at the west end of the north wall; continuous 2 bay chancel of same style and date; East window of 2 cusped lights with cinquefoil above, also contemporary is the vestry to the north. North transept of 1640, round-headed window on east side while that on west has a slightly more pointed head, the doorway in the east wall (under a late C19 stone porch) has a depressed 4 centred arch; the transept was extended by one bay to the north in 1871 (see the straight joint) and has lancets in the east and west walls, the north wall, however, has a window with debased Y-tracery, re-used from the old north wall. Interior. Mid C19 staircase with turned balusters on north side of tower leads to a west gallery supported on 2 cast-iron shafts; hammerbeam roofs to nave, chancel and southern part of transept (1845); steep pitched roof to northern extension of transept (1871); mid C19 box pews, reading desk and pulpit incorporate C17 woodwork; the tub-shaped font on a later pedestal is probably medieval but of indeterminate date; inlaid in the floor nearby are 2 portions of Roman tessellated pavement, said to have come from the villa at Linley, excavated in 1855. Mid C19 and early C20 stained glass; probably medieval parish chest and C19 texts in the tower. The only monuments of note are in the north transept (originally built above the burial vault of the More family in 1640 - see the marble tablet on the west wall); on the north wall a memorial to Harriott Mary More (died 1851) by Field of London, she stands leaning on a pedestal with an urn, in the floor in front an engraved brass coat of arms; funeral hatchments (C18?) to the family on the east and west walls; also in the transept are 2 C17 oak presses which formerly contained the church library, presented by Richard More to the churchwardens in 1680. B.0.E. p.203; Cranage, Vol.5 Pp.420-1.

Listing NGR: SO3429691524

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

256860

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cranage, DHS, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, (1908), 420-1
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (1958), 203

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.