St.Peter's church gothic facade with pinnacles
Magnificent masonry detailing in gothic revival style
Welcome to the Church of St Peter
- The rare vista across the ancient Avon valley and splendid Charlecote Park is of spectacular beauty and typical of pre-Victorian England.
- St.Peter's church stands on the site of an ancient Mercian minster dating from the eighth century.
- It was part of the estate of the Bishops of Worcester who had a magnificent Saxon royal palace here during the eighth and ninth centuries. The site covered some five to eight acres and is now protected as a scheduled monument.
- The present church is one of the earliest and best examples of a Gothic revival church in England.
- It dates from 1826 and was designed by T.Rickman who was the first architect to provide a systematic treatise on Gothic architecture in England: “An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture”. First published in 1817, it was so concise and important a document, that it was used by the most eminent architects of the nineteenth century and is still referred to today.
- In 1856, the polygonal apse (at the east end) was added by Sir Gilbert Scott who restored and extended many great churches including Ely Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. He also designed many of London’s landmarks including: The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, the Midland Railway Terminus Hotel at St.Pancras and the Foreign Office in Whitehall. Scott died and was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1878.
- The great east window, depicting the life of St.Peter, was described in the 19th century as “The most magnificent window in stained glass that has been produced in modern times”.