Diameter: 14" Bell 1 of 3
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1889
Dove Bell ID: 50909 Tower ID: 18275 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Bentham: St Peter
Overview
Grid reference: SO 915 161
The church is a good example of a late Victorian chapel of ease which observed all the rules. A spark of interest is provided by the placing of the bell-cote, most unusually, against the east wall of the south transept. This is the side of the church best seen from the road, and the position of the bell-cote gives an interesting profile to an otherwise ordinary design.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave of four bays with aisles and clerestory; south porch; south transeptal organ chamber and north transeptal vestry; a bell-cote rises above the east wall of the organ chamber; chancel.
Description of Archaeology and History
The church was designed by Sidney Gambier Parry and built in 1888. Sidney Gambier Parry was the youngest son of Thomas Gambier Parry, the Vicar of Highnam for whom Woodyer designed one of the most remarkable Gothic Revival churches in 1847. He was born in 1859 and died in 1948; he lived at Duntisbourne Rouse and designed a similar church at Tidenham Chase which was built in the same year as Bentham. He sometimes worked with the Gloucester firm of Waller and Son.
Exterior Description
The church is a good example of a late Victorian chapel of ease which observed all the rules. A spark of interest is provided by the placing of the bell-cote, most unusually, against the east wall of the south transept. This is the side of the church best seen from the road, and the position of the bell-cote gives an interesting profile to an otherwise ordinary design.
The style is Early English, with short lancets for all the windows: two to each bay of the aisles, two (trefoil-headed) to each bay of the clerestory, a group of three in the west wall and a group of five in the east wall. The transepts have two lancets in the gabled walls and the sanctuary has a single lancet to north and south. There are single langets in the west walls of the aisles, and an arcade below the west window alternates three lancets with two blind panels, the lancets lighting the font at the west end of the nave. The walls are faced with excessively rock-cut grey limestone banded with buff stone. There are buttresses at each side of the west gable, at the corners of the chancel and at the foot of the bell-cote; all round the building there is a chamfered plinth and there are stringcourses forming hoods to the aisle windows.
Applied to this basic form there are a few decorative details. The central light of the arcaded lower part of the west wall has a crocketted gablet to distinguish it from the others, the wall below the east window is decorated with chequerwork in two colours of stone and the outer arch of the south porch has a chamfered head and moulded hood with foliate stops. Above it there is a trefoiled-headed niche containing a statue of St. Peter. The east bay of the nave forms the chancel, and the distinction is marked externally by a fleche on the ridge of the nave roof. The bell-cote has a very sharply pitched gable (much more pointed than any other in the church) with a bulky sub-structure carrying trefoiled arches for three small bells. The apex of the gable is crowned by a weathercock.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
c.1888
East window: The Crucifixion flanked by The Virgin Mary and St. John, two female saints and St. Peter and two apostles; the four Evangelists appear in the outer lights; perhaps by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
Stained Glass
1891
West window: the Te Deum, by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
Interior
Interior Description
The interior remains unaltered. The floor is paved with wooden blocks and the arcades have circular pillars banded with buff and grey stone, with circular moulded bases and capitals. The arches have double chamfers and are outlined by mouldings. The timber barrel vault is slightly pointed and is supported on ribbed arch-braced beams at each bay resting on marble colonettes with moulded capitals and bases. The window reveals are of exposed stone except in the aisles, and the stonework round the groups of lancets forming the east and west windows is all exposed also. There is scarcely any colour in the structure or furnishings which is not grey or buff, and the opaque greenish quarries in the windows (surrounded with red or green borders) together with heavily coloured glass by Heaton, Butler and Bayne in the east and west windows, serves to emphasise this tonality.
The east bay of the nave forms the choir and is raised on two steps and enclosed by an iron screen above a low stone wall. The pulpit and lectern form part of the screen. The structural chancel is therefore left for the sanctuary. Its arch has an outer chamfered order which reaches to the floor and an inner moulded order resting on colonettes. There is one step at this point, another at the rails and two more before the altar. The east window is set within a recessed arch of similar dimensions, and has roundels containing trefoils on the spandrels between the five lights. The north and south windows are shafted and there is a Caernarvon-arches credence shelf under the north windows while the south window comes down to form a small sedile. The chancel floor is paved with red, black and buff highly-glazed tiles.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
c.1888
The altar is of oak with a panelled front.
Pulpit
1888
The pulpit is of 1888 and is semi-octagonal in plan, with a iron railing supported on a stone base; it forms part of the screen round the raised choir.
Lectern
The lectern is part of the screen, and is simply an iron pedestal supporting a reading desk.
Font (object)
The font is of stone, of quatrefoil plan on a stem of four conjoined colonettes with moulded bases and capitals on an octagonal plinth and step; the oak cover has a curling iron superstructure terminating in a cross and decorated with scrolls and leaves.
Organ (object)
c.1888
The organ is a small two-manual instrument (Great 8,8,8,4, 4; Swell 8,8,8,4; Pedal 16 ) with tracker action, by Nicholson of Worcester.
Rail
The communion rails have iron uprights and oak capping.
Screen
An iron screen surrounds the choir on three sides, with three pairs of gates (some at present unhinged); it consists of trefoiled arches and stylised foliage and incorporate the pulpit and lectern.
Stall
c.1888
The choirstalls are of pine.
Bells
Diameter: 16" Bell 2 of 3
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1889
Dove Bell ID: 50910 Tower ID: 18275 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Diameter: 18" Bell 3 of 3
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1888
Dove Bell ID: 50911 Tower ID: 18275 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: SO 915 161
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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