Parish Church of St Peter

Details

BOLTON

SD70NW CHURCHGATE 797-1/4/71 (East side) 26/04/74 Parish Church of St Peter

GV II*

Parish church. 1867-71, replacing an earlier church. EG Paley, architect. Ashlar faced, with slate roofs (originally Westmorland slate). Early C14 style. PLAN: west tower, projecting from the north of the church in order to align with Deansgate; nave with clerestory, 2 aisles, transepts and chancel with flanking chapels. EXTERIOR: 4 stage tower, with west door in moulded arch with polished granite shafts; ornate hammered ironwork door furniture (part of the original design by Austin). 2-light Decorated windows in upper stages, with blind arcading above, and paired bell chamber lights with ball flower moulding to arch, and engaged shafts. Clasping buttresses terminate in crocketted finials. 5-bay lean-to aisles divided by gabletted buttresses, with 3-light Decorated traceried windows. Gabled south porch with fleurons in the moulding of the arch and traceried pinnacles each side. Clerestory with paired foiled windows in shallow panels with ball flower decoration; gargoyles. 5-light Decorated window in south transept, with small arched doorway below. 7-light window to north transept. Lady chapel to east of chancel has two 2-light windows to south and 3-light east window; Vestries to north. 7-light east window to chancel, and clerestory in which foiled lancet windows alternate with blind traceried panels divided by banded shafts. Fleurons to cornice. Traceried pinnacles at east end of chancel, and to west of nave. INTERIOR: nave arcade of 6 bays with clustered shafts with ring capitals carrying complex arches. Recessed paired clerestory lights divided by banded shafts. Clustered wall shafts sprung from corbels carry timber posts of wagon vaulted boarded roof. Lean-to aisle roofs also have small wall posts to principal trusses. Complex moulded chancel arch sprung from tapered corbels. Low stone chancel screen. Rib-vaulted ceiling of chancel decorated by Clayton and Bell, with painted angels etc. Chancel has 3-bay arcade each side, with heavy foliate capitals to clustered shafts and corbels to vaulting. Wrought-iron screens in the arcade. Trefoiled triforium arcade above. Reredos probably part of the original scheme for the church: rich traceried painted and gilded panelwork, with flat

central triptych with canopy, depicting the Last Supper and scenes from the life of Peter, flanked by panels inscribed with prayers etc. FITTINGS: nave seating, the canopied civic stalls against the west end, and the choir stalls all appear to be original. Encaustic tiled floor (by Minton) survives in chancel and at west end of nave. Pulpit wraps round northern crossing pier, octagonal, with wood panels carved with sunflowers, lilies etc., on stone base with wrought-iron rail to stairs. MONUMENTS: various wall memorial tablets throughout the church, including (in the tower porch) a memorial to John Taylor, d.1821, by Chantrey. Two war memorials commemorating the African War and WWI wall mounted marble tablets in north and south aisles. STAINED GLASS: windows in east wall of north chancel aisle (to rear of organ) and in east of south chancel aisle (lady chapel) were removed from the earlier church, and are mid C19. East and west windows (depicting scenes from the life of St Peter, and scenes from the Old Testament respectively) are by Hardman, as is the south window in the south transept. Other windows also apparently removed from the earlier church (and all themselves mid C19) include the north-west window (dated 1842). Chancel clerestory windows have stained glass figures of Sts (c1880), and both aisles have late C19 and early C20 glass. Organ rebuilt 1882 (originally installed in the earlier church in 1795), in a case designed by AG Hill, and painted with angels and stylised flowers. (Scholes JC: History of Bolton: Bolton: 1892-).



Listing NGR: SD7205209288

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

475975

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Scholes, J C, History of Bolton, (1892)

End of official list entry

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