St. Peter's Church in Hope - The Interior

A detail of the alabaster reredos in St. Peter's church

When investigating various mediaeval churches in and around South Yorkshire, most of those that I have visited are generally open to the general public, but very often I have had to time my visits to coincide with Coffee Mornings, Heritage Open Days and other events when the church is opened at a time that does not coincide with a formal service. 

A view east along the nave

On a couple of occasions, I have had to ask for a church to be especially opened for me and the keyholder either got on with some work in the church, as at Laughton-en-le-Morthen, or went back home, as at Adwick-le-Street – leaving me to wander around the interior at leisure and take photographs of the features that interested me. 

A view west along the nave

At St. Peter’s church, in Hope, however, the churchwarden proceeded to give me a very informative guided tour of the church which, although much appreciated, didn’t give me much time to investigate details that would be of interest to readers of this Language of Stone Blog and I only made a very quick photographic record to which I would refer to at a later date. 

A detail of masonry above the chancel arch following C15 rebuilding

Looking down the nave, the arcades are identical, with octagonal columns and capitals that are probably dated to the early C14 – Decorated Gothic style - in keeping with the age of the tower according to Pevsner and Historic England. 

The old roofline above the tower arch

Although the position of the lighting in the nave made it very difficult to photograph the details of the masonry above the arcades, the old roofline above the tower arch and the distinct change in the pattern of stonework above the chancel arch provides evidence of the addition of the clerestory in the C15 – together with the other parts of the church that, on the exterior at least, are in the typical Perpendicular Gothic style. 

The font and grave slabs in the north aisle

Quickly wandering around the rest of the church, the C12 lead lined font and various grave slabs caught my eye in the north aisle but I haven’t yet managed to find any information about these. 

Piscinas in St.Peter's church

In the chancel, the c.1300 sedilia and piscina have been retained but, with the walls entirely plastered and the floor relaid with encaustic tiles, there is not much of archaeological interest here and, in the south aisle, another trefoiled piscina is just used for storage. 

A view west to the tower showing the encaustic tiles

The sanctuary, however, is interesting for its varied stones. There is alabaster in the ornate reredos, dated 1910, Carboniferous limestone in the floor and another variety of limestone - which an educated guess is Caen stone - used for the highly ornate niches and related details, and with Italian white marble used for the statuary.

Details of the sanctuary