St. Peter, Tempsford, Bedfordshire

Description

The present church of St. Peter is an ancient building of stone, chiefly in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north and south porches and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells: the bells were recast and rehung in 1924: the interior has the following inscription Will Sanderson, Gent., and Thomas Staple, yeo., overseers of this new work, and patentyes of his Majesty's letters patent granted for the same, May 12th, 1621: there is an inscribed stone to the Very Rev. D. Knightley Chetwode, Dean of Gloucester, one to his wife, and a piscina: by the liberality of the late William Stuart esq. and the late Colonel William Stuart, the whole edifice underwent thorough restoration in 1874, at a cost of upwards of £2,000; the rectory wall also rebuilt and the churchyard enlarged: during the restoration an ancient mural painting, supposed to represent St. Catherine, was discovered on the north wall of the nave, and is still in an excellent state of preservation: a new organ was provided in 1898 at a cost of £140: a memorial window and a brass tablet were erected in 1919 to those who fell in the Great War, 1914-18, and an oak panel to those who returned: on the north side of the chancel and over the side altar, there are stained windows, the gifts of the Rev. Dr. Walker, vicar of Newark-on-Trent: in 1931 a lych gate was erected in memory of Mrs. Williamson. A continuous list of the rectors of Tempsford, dating from 1129, is placed in the church.

Church Records

The parish registers date from the year 1600, but much earlier though nearly illegible records also exist.