Parish Church of St Peter

Details

This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement on 7 March 2025 to amend details in the description, add sources and reformat the text to current standards

SJ4066SE
595-1/4/150

CHESTER CITY (IM)
EASTGATE STREET
Parish Church of St Peter

(Formerly Listed as EASTGATE STREET AND ROW (North side) Church of St Peter, previously listed as EASTGATE STREET Church of St Peter)

28/07/55

GV
I

Parish church, now (2024) a church and Christian centre. The Church of St Peter is said to have been founded by Aethelfled in 907AD on the site of the Roman Praetorium (headquarters building), and some of its fabric may be reused and date to that early period. Unusually, it was recorded as a ‘temple’ in Domesday and was part of a dispute over borough dues. St Peter’s had a close relationship with the city authorities, and in the C13 the first ‘Pentice’ was built against the south wall. Initially a timber structure, a later illustration suggests that it was rebuilt in stone, probably in the late C17 or early C18. This extension was originally a court that was particularly concerned with the regulation of the markets, and it latterly housed a court, a Mayor’s Balcony, various shops and civic rooms. It survived until 1803 when it was demolished to enable road widening. The City Assembly also maintained the church clock from at least 1460s, and established a fund for the repair of the church in 1574, rebuilding the porch chamber in 1584. St Peter’s was the guild church of the fraternity of St George, and in the C15 they had a chapel in the church, probably in the south aisle. The church continued to retain its importance through the C17 and into the C20. The present structure is C14, C15 and C16, but was significantly altered and restored in the C17, C18 and C19. The alterations included the removal of a spire in 1780, which had previously been rebuilt twice, ‘having been much injured by lightning’. In 1849–1850, the church was repaired by noted Chester architect James Harrison, at which time the north gallery was extended and a south gallery added. A more extensive restoration was carried out in 1886 by John Douglas, an architect influential in Chester’s Vernacular Revival style, but who was also involved in the restoration of many of its medieval churches. Douglas’ work included the addition of a pyramidal spire, the renewal of window tracery to the south aisle, and new internal fittings. The building is constructed of red sandstone. The roof is not visible.

PLAN: The church is approximately square in plan. Below the floor level of the north aisle was the undercroft of a medieval townhouse which was filled and paved over. There is an embraced west tower, formerly with a spire. The plan form is of two inner and two outer aisles, all with their floor at the level of Watergate Row North. One of these aisles forms a continuous nave and chancel.

EXTERIOR: The face of the south outer aisle has a flight of seven stone steps leading to the south door and to Watergate Row North. It has replaced diagonally-boarded double doors in a restored archway, three rectangular windows of four lights dating to 1886-1889, with three arched windows above, rebuilt in the Perpendicular style in 1886-1889. The stonework of the south face was partly removed by Thomas Harrison in 1803 when the Pentice was removed.

The tower rises one stage above the roof and has a clock and bell opening of two cusped and transomed lights. The eaves are crenelated, with crocketed pinnacles. There is a pyramidal roof of slate in the manner of the architect John Douglas of the late C19. Its faces are interrupted by a continuous horizontal louvre, and it has a wind vane. The tower formerly had a spire, which was removed and rebuilt in the C16, taken down in the C17, then rebuilt and finally removed in the C18.

The west end is partly behind 2 & 4 Watergate Street and The Victoria Public House, 2 Watergate Row North, and has a plain face to the tower.

The north windows of the Perpendicular north aisle have panel tracery.

The east end has two low-pitched gables, which are plainly expressed. The chancel and the north inner aisle have traceried windows larger than that of the south aisle, which was formerly the chapel of St George. The outer north aisle, which now contains the organ, has an inserted rectangular window of two lights.

INTERIOR: the three-bay arcades do not match the window openings. The tower piers are rectangular in plan and support a ribbed vault of eight panels over the baptistry, with a circular bell-hole. The north-east pier has a damaged medieval fresco around a niche, which held a Virgin and Child. The two southern arcades, with through mouldings, are in the Decorated style. The northern arcade is Perpendicular and dates to 1535-38.

The outer north aisle has a lean-to roof with a low pitch with arch-braced main beams. These have carved foliar bosses and carved spandrels of three trusses. The inner north aisle has a restored camber-beam roof.
The inner south aisle has shallow king-post trusses. The roof to the outer south aisle is replaced. Galleries in this church were first recorded in 1637, but were altered in the C18 and C19. They cover the outer north and south aisles and part of the west end. Two carved corbel stones project from the south wall.

Fittings include a C15 bronze, which is said to commemorate a lawyer. The pews are probably mid-to-late-C19. The east window glass dates to 1862 and 1963; one is dedicated to Prince Albert. A monument on the north wall of around 1750 is for Henry Bennett. The bells are by Rudhall of Gloucester and date to 1709.

Listing NGR: SJ4052866303

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

470241

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Lewis, CP, Thacker, AT, Churches and religious bodies: Medieval parish churches in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, (2005), 133-156

Websites
Information about the church, accessed 30 October 2023 from http://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/St_Peter

Other
Cheshire Sites and Monuments Record: Collens J: Chester City: 3007/12/1

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