Parish Church of St Peter
PARISH CHURCH OF ST PETER, CHURCH GREEN
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1101403
- Date first listed:
- 24-Nov-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Parish Church of St Peter
- Statutory Address:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST PETER, CHURCH GREEN
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-08-07
- Reference:
- IOE01/03904/16
- Rights:
- © Mr A. Gude. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1101403
- Date first listed:
- 24-Nov-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Parish Church of St Peter
- Statutory Address 1:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST PETER, CHURCH GREEN
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST PETER, CHURCH GREEN
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Hertfordshire
- District:
- East Hertfordshire (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Benington
- National Grid Reference:
- TL 29692 23579
Details
Benington TL 2923 BENINGTON CHURCH GREEN (north side)
11/8 Parish Church of St Peter 24.11.66
GV I
Parish church. Late C13 or early C14 nave and chancel, c1330 N chapel and S porch, early C15 W tower before roof raised for C15 clerestorey. Restored 1889 by John Oldrid Scott. (Kelly (1914) 52). Flint rubble with stone dressings. Steep old red tile roof to porch, chancel and similar roof, hipped at E, to N chapel. Parapet hides low pitched nave roof and embattled parapet to the Hertfordshire spike on the tower. A tall wide aisless nave lit by windows at 2 levels, with a rood stair at the NE corner, and covered by a 4-bay open timber roof. Cambered tie-beams, curved braces from wallposts on corbels, and carved heraldic bosses, painted. 2 early C14 2-light windows in N wall and S wall with tracery. Blocked C14 N door. Late C14 oak S door with contemporary pointed arch in square head. Large 2-light C15 clerestorey windows, 3 on each side. The lower windows have moulded rear arches with hoodmoulds and head stops. 3 carved stone brackets and piscina for former alter at SE. Mid C14 Barnack stone octagonal font with corbelled shafts on alternate faces and C15 stem with panelled sides and base. Fragments of medieval glass in nave windows and wall-painting of masonry pattern with flowers at W end. Simple C15 oak benches. Traceried oak screen of 1889 moved to tower arch in 1966. 3 inscribed brasses on wall at NE, C15 scroll, William Clarke 1591, and John Clarke 1604. Narrower chancel with E wall and roof, and much of S wall, rebuilt in 1889. 5-light E window of that date with stained glass by Burlison and Grylls c1896 (Pevsner). In S wall pre 1300 Sedilia with stiff-leaf and crocket capitals and cusped pointed arches. Piscina early C14 with ogee arch. 2 3-light C15 windows with flat or low-arched traceried heads. Pointed C19 traceried window at SW. Small late C13 S doorway with moulded jambs and straight-sided arch. Chancel arch rebuilt wider in C15. Fine mortuary chapel at NE c1330 with small N door, 2 C14 N 2-light windows with flowing tracery, similar W window, C15 E window, and elaborate 2-bay arcade on S to chancel. Quatrefoil piers with thin shafts in diagonals and moulded bases and caps. Deeply moulded arches, pointed in W bay but elaborately crocketed and ogee pointed in next bay to E, flanked by panelled finials, which acts as a canopy to the traceried tomb chest of Sir John de Benstede and his lady with lifesize recumbent effigies. Small mutilated figures remain in canopied niches along the S side. The wall to the E has been pierced for a similar canopied tomb chest c1430 of Sir Edward de Benstede and his lady. The underside of the 4- centred arch is panelled with a central angel holding their souls in a napkin. Ogee headed niches line the tombchest and the arch has carved spandrels. Part of a C15 brass of a priest is fixed to the pier between the tombs. 2-stage W tower with angle buttresses and half-octagonal turret stair on S face dieing into upper stage. Tall C15 arch to nave. 2-light bell openings with quatrefoil in head under hood mould. Niche in NW buttress with shield of arms. Gabled parapet and diagonal buttresses to S porch, with a 2-light window to E and W and image of St Michael in niche over entrance. Broken stoup by door. The church stands on a prominent elevated site by the castle overlooking the green. OOf outstanding interest for chapel and tombs. (RCHM (1911) 50-1: VCH (1912) 75-7: Pevsner (1977) 93-4).
Listing NGR: TL2969223579
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 159596
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Doubleday, A, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1912), 75-7
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 93-94
Kellys Directory in Hertfordshire, (1914), 52
Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 16:32:32.
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