Description

BISHOP AUCKLAND

NZ2029NE PRINCES STREET
634-1/11/111 (North side)
24/04/87 Church of St Peter

GV II

Parish church with hall, piers and railings attached. 1873-5.
By RJ Johnson.
MATERIALS: thin courses of squared sandstone with ashlar
dressings; purple slate roofs with stone gable copings and
copper-covered church tower.
PLAN: church: apsidal chancel with N vestry and SE tower;
aisled nave with NW choir vestry.
EXTERIOR: C14 style with cusped reticulated and intersecting
tracery and coped, stepped buttresses rising from
deeply-sloped plinth. Windows mostly 2-centered arches, all
with dripmoulds and sill strings. E apse windows, with
Perpendicular tracery with daggers in top panels, separated by
prominent buttresses each with 4 offsets. SE tower has 2
stages, the first very high with 2-centred windows and the 2nd
with groups of 3 lancets, those on W on sloped sill. E stair
turret tower cornice.
N and S elevations, the S forming the principal street front,
have 4-light windows formed by buttresses which define bays;
square-headed windows in west bays, that on S the baptistry
which projects slightly and has shallow buttresses.
Roll-moulded gabled parapet.
W elevation has square-headed aisle windows with reticulated
tracery flanking prominent, high buttresses. Central W door in
double-chamfered surround in projection under large 7-light
window in gable and 2-light window in gable peak; boarded
doors have wrought-iron tendril hinges. NW choir vestry
projects to N of door. Steeply-pitched roof with hipped
projection over SW baptistry in S aisle. Pyramidal roof to
tower, gabled to vestry.
INTERIOR: plaster with ashlar dressings; painted timber roof.
6-bay nave arcades have hoodstring over high, pointed,
hollow-chamfered arches. Octagonal ashlar piers with moulded
bases and capitals. Similar organ arch. Panelled boarded
ceiling and moulded frieze painted in strong primary colours.
Windows have dripmoulds and irregular block jambs. Shouldered
surround to NE boarded vestry door, pointed-arched surround to
NW studded vestry door, both with wrought-iron band hinges.
One step to choir in E bay of arcade, one step to sanctuary
and one to altar. Chancel oak-panelled to commemorate diamond
jubilee of church in 1935, top panels with blind tracery,
incorporating carved frieze probably earlier with radiating
leaves flanking quatrefoils. Carved wood Perpendicular reredos
painted in bright colours with blind tracery, pinnacles and
canopies. Canopied niche to S of altar. Brass Communion rail
on scrolled and tied wrought-iron balustrade. Wood pulpit has
open tracery and 5 steps. Tabernacle transferred to S aisle
chapel S wall. Octagonal stone pedestal font in S aisle at W
end is 1875 gift from King James I Grammar School.
Stained glass in E windows WWI memorial. Low relief bronze
panel on N chancel wall records names of dead 1914-1918,
framed by angel with flowing drapery holding a loosely-furled
flag; smaller WWII panel. Boarded pews have blind quatrefoil
over umbrella rails in shaped ends; churchwardens' staffs;
open tracery in screen to front pew. Plaque in S aisle
commemorates baptism on 21 October 1891 of Arthur Stanley
Jefferson, Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy.
Hall: attached to W of church by one-storey link with mullion
windows. One storey, 1 x 2 windows. Gable to street has
relieving arch over tall mullion and transom window of 3
stepped lights; flat stone gable coping on chamfered kneelers.
Right return to yard has double panelled door and 2-pane
overlight; trefoil carved in soffit of chamfered pointed arch
with flower-stopped dripmould. Flanking 2-light stone mullion
windows, the right partly blind and crossed by external stair
with iron balustrade to attic door breaking eaves.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: 2 tall piers to yard have coped
buttresses to street, and stepped hipped coping with moulded
ridge; spike railings on chamfered wall end in 3rd pier
attached to church.

Listing NGR: NZ2081129684

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26580167

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)