St Peter's Church, Heversham

The church is constructed mainly in limestone rubble with sandstone dressings, the vestry and the east wall of the chancel being in sandstone. The roofs are covered in lead. The plan of the church consists of a three-bay nave with a clerestory, a two-bay chancel, north and south aisles with chapels at the east ends, a north vestry, a south porch, and a west tower. The tower is in three stages with buttresses, a pyramidal roof, and a southwest stair turret. The architectural style of the body of the church is Perpendicular. The south arcade is Norman. The tower is in Early English style.[1]

Most of the furnishings were designed by Paley and Austin, including the alabaster reredos. The screen in the north chapel dates from 1605. The south door is medieval, dating from about 1300. In the porch is a portion of an Anglo-Saxon cross dating from the late 8th century, carved with vine scrolls and beasts. Some of the stained glass in the south chapel is dated 1601. The glass in the east window was designed by William Warrington in 1844, and the glass in the south windows is mainly by Clayton and Bell. In the north chapel is a window dated 1914 by Shrigley and Hunt, and the west window of 1924 is by A. K. Nicholson. The church contains a number of monuments, the oldest dated 1626.[2] There is a ring of six bells, all cast in 1870 by John Warner & Sons.[5]

An organ was destroyed in the fire of 1601, and another organ is said to have been destroyed in the Civil War in about 1644. The present three-manual organ is housed in a carved wooden case dated 1887 and is by Wilkinson of Kendal. It incorporates an instrument from earlier in the 19th century. Improvements and repairs were undertaken on the present organ in 1925 and 1952, each time by Wilkinson. In 1979 Rushworth and Dreaper restored and extended it, and a complete overhaul was carried out in 1995 by David Wells at a cost of about £38,000.[6]