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Designations

• Listed Building (II*) 1182891: CHURCH OF ST PETER

Monument Type(s):

• CHURCH (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1769 AD)

Summary

Redundant church, Norman origin. Rebuilt 1769 after destruction in Civil War

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds:

Description

SU6089SE WALLINGFORD THAMES STREET
(East side)
Wallingford
11/159 Church of St Peter
09/12/49 (Formerly listed as St Peter's Church)
GV II*
Church, now redundant. Started 1763, contractors William Toovey and Joseph Tuckwell; 1767 paved, pewed and stuccoed under supervision of Sir Robert Taylor; spire added to Sir Robert Taylor's design in 1776-7; chancel added 1904 by Sydney Stephenson. Flint plinth to nave; ashlar stone to nave and chancel; knapped flint with stone quoins and bands to tower; old plain-tile roof to chancel; Welsh slate roof to nave; stone open-work spire. 4-bay nave, apsidal chancel and west tower. Classical style with Gothick spire and Gothic Revival apse. 6-panel double door with fanlight to round-topped doorway with damaged moulded stone surround to west face of tower. 4 round-arched windows with damaged keystones and imposts blocks to each side of nave, Quoins to end of nave. Shaped cornice and plain parapet to eaves of nave. Early C20 reticulated tracery windows to apse. Early C20 rose window to north side of apse. 3-light Y-tracery window above west door. Panel inscribed "This church was finished A.D. MDCCLXIX, The Spire A.D. MDCCLXXVII". Clock face to each side of top of tower, except to north. Open-work stone Gothick spire. Interior: shallow segmental-arched coffered ceiling to nave. Late C18 font and pews. Stained glass to east window by Morris and Co. of 1918. External wall monument to Sir William Blackstone and family on south side of nave to right. Gothick-arched surround with 3 armorial shields to base and inscribed panel above. History: church replaced one destroyed during seige of Wallingford in 1646. Sir William Blackstone took a keen interest in the building of the tower and spire and paid for the southern clock face which could be visible from his house, Castle Priory (now Castle Priory College, q.v.).
(V.C.H. : Berkshire, Vol.III, 1923, p.539-40; Buildings of England: Berkshire, 1966, p.248; "History of the Church of St. Peter, Wailingford" guide-book by I. Taggart).
Listing NGR: SU6093489458
1a) The church was ruined in 1646 during the siege of the town by Sir Thomas Fairfax and lay deserted for more than a century until it was rebuilt by Sir William Blackstone. The body of the church was finished in 1769 and the spire built in 1777
(2) Transcript made in the 1920's and 1930's now in the Central Library, Reading
(3) Located west of the Wallingford Bridge on the bank of the Saxon burgh
6) Listing discarded as all info added to this record.
7) Transferred to Oxon History Centre.

<1a> Berks Archaeological Journal, Vol 40, No 1 (Spring, 1936) p.100. See CAS Lib: Vale 54 (Serial). SOX390.

<1> Dept of Environment/DCMS, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, South Oxon List 123: 11/159, p76 (Index). SOX260.

<2> Local Informant as main provider of information, R A Chambers, OAU: Graveyard Memorial Recording (1979) (Verbal communication). SOX277.

<3> Victoria County History of Berkshire, Vol 3 (1923) pp.541-2 (Serial). SOX6.

<4> 1893-5, Journal of Berks Archaeological & Architectural Society, Vol 3 (1983), pp.51-2 (Serial). SOX1061.

<5> OS Record Card, SU 68 NW 6 (Index). SOX273.

<6> NMR Monument - Long Listing Filed in Detailed Record File, SU 68 NW 6 (Index). SOX391.

<7> English Heritage (RCHME), 1987-1989, Historic Buildings Photographic Record Card (Photograph). SOX2063.

Sources

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