St. Peter's Church in Nottingham

A general view of St. Peter's church

When studying geology at Nottingham University, I passed St. Peter’s church in Nottingham city centre numerous times but, back then, I had no interest in the investigation of mediaeval churches; however, nearly 40 years later and with a particular interest in their construction history, I was fascinated by this church. 

A Google Earth view of Nottingham

During a planned long day out in Nottingham on the Saturday of the 2019 Easter Weekend, I had already spent more than 3 hours investigating the Lace Market and St. Mary’s church by the time I arrived back in the city centre. 

A plan of St. Peter's church that details its construction history

With Wollaton Park and other places in Nottingham still to explore, I only had the time to briefly look at the external fabric and take a set of general photographs. As I discovered later, when investigating its interior, there is a very informative display produced back in 1999 by the architect, D.A. Marshall, that records the construction history of the church in detail – with detailed plans and isometric drawings. 

Isometric drawings of St. Peter's church

As a professional interested in standing buildings archaeology, I think that this is one of the best resources that I have seen to help a visitor appreciate the construction history of the church. Although financial resources might be an obstacle, I think that this could be incorporated into a new guide to the church. The Southwell and Nottingham Church History Project website is an excellent resource, which I think sets an example that should be followed everywhere, but the current printed information leaflet is extremely basic and says very little about the building. 

A geological map showing sources of sandstone used in Nottingham

Like St. Mary’s church, St. Peter’s church was also originally constructed in one or more of the poor quality building stones that have been quarried in Nottingham and the surrounding area - from the Helsby Sandstone and Tarporley Siltstone formations – and it has been restored in several different types of stone. 

The south elevation of the tower

Starting at the tower, dating back to 1340, there is still plenty of the original yellow cross-bedded sandstone in the fabric, although much has been restored over the years with what appears to be medium grained sandstone from the Upper Carboniferous Millstone Grit – probably from the Ashover Grit between Bakewell and Matlock, judging by its colour – although stone from Mansfield has been recorded as being used in 1825. 

A general view of the north aisle

The north elevation, built after the Black Death of 1348, exhibits several phases of repair with bricks, replacement of individual stones and renewal of large sections of masonry, with various sandstones – including mottled buff/red medium grained gritstone from Birchover for the west end of the north aisle and the entire castellated parapet. 

Various repairs to the west end of the north aisle

The westernmost two bays of the north aisle still contain much of the original Triassic sandstone, but this stone is obviously of very poor quality, however, the facing stones of three eastern bays were completely renewed in 1944 and 1946.

A view of St. Peter's church from the north-east

At the east end, the north transept and chancel were rebuilt in 1877 and the St. James’s room was added in 1936, but I only took a few general photos at a distance, due to the limited time I had, and didn’t examine the stone closely. 

The south wall of the chancel

Looking at the east elevation of the chancel, the plinth and possibly the window is built in Jurassic limestone, with the varied yellow/pink colour and advanced state of weathering to the walling suggesting that this may also be Triassic sandstone, but this needs further investigation, as does the south elevation, which contains a similar mixture of stones 

A general view of the south elevation

A quick look at the south aisle, originally early C13, reveals another variety of stone used, this time the castellated and refacing of the walls with Jurassic limestone from Clipsham in 1929, which replaced previous restorations of 1765 and 1799, which used Castle Donington and Melbourne stones respectively. 

The south aisle

One day, I will return to have a much closer look at the building stones used over the years at St. Peter’s church, and I think it would make an interesting case study for the selection of stone used in restoration and I would certainly include it as a key site on a geology field trip to Nottingham.

A detail of Triassic sandstone at the door of the tower