Church of St Peter
CHURCH OF ST PETER, GROVE ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1205607
- Date first listed:
- 21-Sept-1978
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Peter
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST PETER, GROVE ROAD
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
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 |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2004-02-18
- Reference:
- IOE01/11383/09
- Rights:
- © Mr Reg Perry. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1205607
- Date first listed:
- 21-Sept-1978
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Peter
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST PETER, GROVE ROAD
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:
- CHURCH OF ST PETER, GROVE ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Dorset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Portland
- National Grid Reference:
- SY 69889 72581
Details
PORTLAND
SY67SE GROVE ROAD, Grove 969-1/1/135 (North side) 21/09/78 Church of St Peter
GV II*
Former Anglican parish church, now chapel to Young Offender Institution. Consecrated August 1872. Designed by Capt. Du Cane, RE and built at cost of »8000. Portland ashlar, slate roofs. Cruciform unaisled plan with western narthex and bell cote, and trefoil-plan transepts and chancel, all in vigorous Lombardic Romanesque style. West front has lofty gabled bell cote on coped gable to kneelers over 8-foil wheel window in sunk panel to pointed moulded arch above lean-to narthex with raised copings and 7 arched windows behind screen of doubled colonnettes; at south end a raking buttress to left and pair of plank doors in moulded arch. Main body has lofty plinth with offsets, flat pilasters to sunk panels and continuous dwarf arcade to Lombard bands at eaves with moulded cornice and cast iron cavetto-mould gutter. Nave has 2+2+1 lights, and transepts 7 single lights; north transept also has central door under small arched light. Apse has blank panel adjoining transept, then 9 lights behind screen of paired colonnettes. Lean-to vestry in north-east corner has circular stack on square base, and a door to N. Interior: 3-bay nave with tied arch-braced scissor trusses and king post to stone corbels. Unplastered walls. Windows in deep embrasures, roll- mould surround stopped to rosettes and steep sloping cill. Plain glass except centre S, replacing one damaged by bombing in 1941, in memory of Bandmaster J. Tyson and men of the Dorset Regiment killed in action. West wheel window series of angels and central monogram IHS. In transepts a varied version of the nave trusses. Chancel on 2+2+1 steps, sanctuary with series of deep-set rectangular panels flanking central 4-bay reredos with Evangelists in mosaic, under windows with paired colonnettes, and blank panels with names of Regiments serving at The Verne from 1873 to 1937. Boarded celure, simple hammer-beam trusses. Area of black and white mosaic under wooden altar table. Stained glass mainly C20. To left and right of chancel arch are arched recesses containing Decalogue, Lord's Prayer, and Creed; organ in south transept, stone octagonal pulpit, and unusual hexagonal base to stone lectern. Plain pine pews. In narthex some black and white mosaic, plank ceiling. As with many of the buildings on Portland, much of the work is reputed to have been done by convicts from the prison, and the mosaic at St. Peter's is known to have been the work of Constance Kent, who was serving a life sentence in Parkhurst prison; she was released, and died at the age of 100 in 1940. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N and Newman J: Dorset: London: 1972-1989: 343).
Listing NGR: SY6988972581
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 381956
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Newman, J, The Buildings of England: Dorset, (1972), 343
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 06-Jun-2026 at 23:09:08.
Download a full scale map (PDF)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.