Monument record 1434/2/1 - Church of St Peter

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 413837 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Church: early-mid thirteenth century, south aisle early fourteenth century, tower and porch c.1480. Seventeenth century alterations and restoration 1879-85 by Sir G G and J O Scott. Ashlar buff and pink sandstone. Kerridge stone-slate roof. Six-bay nave and aisles, three-bay chancel, west tower and south porch. South porch has diagonal buttresses and crocketted pinnacles on the gable. South aisle has a two-light window with Y-tracery and seventeenth century three-light stone mullion windows. Clerestorey has two-light windows with trefoil cusped heads. North aisle of the restoration. Sanctus bellcote on the ridge five-light east window of the chancel has tiers of lights with cusped heads. four-stage tower has clasping square buttresses. West door has label mould on carved heads. Three-light west window breaks a bond of interlacing. Clock in third stage and two-light louvred bell openings above. Another band of interlacing below embattled parapet with crocketted pinnacles. Interior: Arcade of 6 bays to north aisle of alternate circular and octagonal pillars, to south aisle are quatrefoil pillars, one with a stiff-leaf capital. Paintings of 1719 in the spandrels represent the apostles and tribes of Israel. Nave roof truss have arch braced tiebeams with 4 diagonal struts and a collar with two diagonal struts. Aisles have post-restoration Victorian glass and Legh Chantry Chapel an oak classical screen dated 1744 and memorial to Charles Legh of an urn in front of an obelisk by Joseph Turner dated 1781. Chancel arch on engaged half octagonal columns and contains a fine neo-classical screen of 1787. Chancel has reset tympanum of twelfth century date with interlaced trellis decoration. Jacobean pulpit with arcaded panels dated 1607. Fourteenth century font with a plain circular bowl and carved head bosses on a quatrefoil pillar (very similar to example at Nether Alderley) with Jacobean font cover. Jacobean tower screen with open pierced arcade and later turned baluster rail above.

<2> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, p.280-5 (Book). SCH2309.

In 1841 an Anglo-Saxon Cross was found built into the walls of the present church and this would date the first primitive church about A.D. 900. The fate of this first church is unknown, but the Norman chapel standing on ·the south side of the present church came into existence in the early twelfth century.

Prior to the Reformation the parish belonged to the abbey of St. Werburgh, having been bestowed upon the monks in 1153 by Hugh Kyvelioc, Earl of Chester. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the church became first the property of the Dean and Chapter of the newly created See of Chester, but was quickly acquired by the Cottons and in 1580 by the Leghs of Adlington.

The parish church, dedicated to St. Peter, was built in three periods-the nave and chancel in 1220, the south aisle in 1310, and the tower and porch in 1480. The clerestory and bell-cot are early sixteenth century. The north aisle was widened and rebuilt in the eighteenth century. The tympanum between nave and chancel was removed in 1637, the nave roof reconstructed 1674. The organ loft at the west end, dated 1637, was made a ringers' gallery in the nineteenth century, and pews added in 1707. The result of the rebuilding and restoration is that only the 1480 work remains virtually intact and unchanged.

<3> Rogers H W, 1955, Prestbury and it's Ancient Church, p.1, 11-30 (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH2723.

The name Prestbury means 'Priests' town' and historians are agreed that it was here that the first community of missionary priests settled to preach the Gospel in this area. No mention of Prestbury is mentioned in the Domesday Book though many of the townships included in the Parish are named therein. The parish is an extensive one with the Mother Church of Prestbury at one time exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction over 35 townships.

The church at Prestbury, which superseded the Norman chapel, was probably built about the year 1220 by the Davenports of Henbury, the Pigotts of Butley and the family of Corona, all predecessors of the the Leghs of Adlington. After the Norman Conquest the Manor of Prestbury was in the possession of the Earl of Chester and in 1153, the then Earl of Chester, Hugh Kyvelioc conferred the Manor and church to the monks of the Abbey of St. Werburgh at Chester. This remained the case until the Reformation. In 1589 the estates at Prestbury and its Church were granted to George Calveley, George Cotton, Hugh Cholmondeley and Thomas Legh. Thomas Legh was the father of Sir Urian Legh who under the Earl of Essex contributed to the capture of Cadiz in 1596, and following this, the Prestbury estate was granted to the Legh family in perpetuety subject to an annual payment to the Dean and Chapter of Chester.

Although the church contains no sculpted effigies, it does contain a number of monument slabs or tablets, the earliest of which dates from 1482. Some of these derive from altar tombs. The eastern end of the south aisle was originally a chantry chapel created c.1350 by the Worths of Tytherington. A further private chapel is located on the eastern side of the north aisle. The Legh Chapel is divided from the main body of the church by an oak screen.

<4> National Museums Liverpool Field Archaeology Unit, 2015, An Archaeological Evaluation of Land at St Peter's Churchyard, Prestbury, Cheshire. Phase II Assessment Report., p.2, 16-7 (Client Report). SCH7946.

St Peter’s Church was the head of one of the largest medieval parishes in Cheshire and was probably established in the Anglo-Saxon period. There are few physical remains relating directly to Anglo-Saxon church buildings, though fragments of two Anglo-Saxon stone crosses were found re-used in the church walls in the 19th century. The church was begun c. 1220 AD and contains a mix of 13th, 14th and 15th century architecture. However, there were periodic repairs and additions from the 16th century onwards. These included rebuilding of the north aisle in the 1740s and extensive renovations in 1879-1885 to designs by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The later restoration included significant rebuilding, especially of the north aisle, parts of the south aisle, the vestry and the chancel and probably inadvertently removed much of the original medieval fabric.

A grave slab was recovered during the removal of the foundations to the vestry where it formed part of the rubble make-up. The slab is in gritstone, roughly rectangular in plan, and measures approximately 0.51 x 0.45 m and 0.20 m thick and is the upper end of a medieval grave marker commonly classed as cross slabs. The upper surface is smooth with no evidence of tooling other than the incised design, the base is crudely worked. One of the sides is rough and unworked and represents a break in the slab. Three sides retain traces of tooling from a broad bladed chisel which show that the original width of the slab was 0.51 m. Its original length could not be determined. Recesses cut into the base of the slab may have been used to facilitate it being moved into position.

The decoration consists of an incised round-leaf bracelet cross with a short section of the shaft, all defined by shallow incised grooves. Faint scribing lines suggest the use of a compass to form the design. Two sides of the slab, the upper and right, are beaded along their upper edges, the beading was either absent or has been removed from the other edge. The design is slightly unusual in that the cross is set diagonally between the arms of the cross. This type of decoration was very popular in the late 12th/early 13th century, but may have continued in use into the 14th and possibly 15th century.

<5> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p.546-7 (Book). SCH7059.

<6> Earwaker, J P, 1877-1880, East Cheshire Past & Present, Vol.II, p.180-188 (Book). SCH1080.