Barrowden, Rutland

St. Peter (parish church)

The church of St. Peter is an ancient building of stone in the Transition-Norman, Early English and later styles, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch, small north chantry chapel and a western tower with broach spire, containing 5 bells, re-hung in 1857; one of these is dated 1595 and another 1706: the sanctus bell, which had been disused for many years, was re-hung in 1889, when the upper portion of the spire, struck by lightning a short time previously, was removed and rebuilt: the earliest parts of the church belong to the latter part of the 12th century and the tower and spire belong to the latter end of the 14th century; the chancel originally opened on the north side to an aisle or chapel, now an organ chamber, and the arcade opening to it is Transition-Norman, but the chancel itself is mainly Perpendicular, and retains a piscina and double sedilia; the chancel arch is Early English; the lower part of the rood loft stairs remains, and is pierced by a hagioscope; in the church is a monument to Roland Durant esq. ob. 1588, and a brass to Roland Digby, rector, ob. 1546: the church was restored in 1875, at a cost of £760, and again in 1896, when the chantry chapel was repaired and fitted up as a vestry and organ chamber, the choir re-seated, a reredos erected and the old chained books placed in an oak case, constructed out of some remains of the Jacobean pulpit, the major part of which had been sold at the previous restoration in 1875, and is now in Harringworth church: a part of the reading desk and a panel inlaid with a group of flowers, and the initials R. J. 1605, have been made into a desk for the chained books mentioned above: the church spire was struck by lightning on the 15th August, 1915: an oak panel inscribed with a list of the rectors of the parish from 1243, with a short account of the chief events in the history of the parish, has also been put up in the church by the rector: the chalice and paten are kept in a leather case, assumed by Sir A. W. Franks K.C.B., F.S.A. to date from c. 1380: there are 200 sittings.