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St Peter's Church, Heysham

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Coordinates: 54°02′51″N 2°54′07″W / 54.0474°N 2.9019°W / 54.0474; -2.9019
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St Peter's Church, Heysham
St Peter's Church, Heysham
St Peter's Church, Heysham is located in the City of Lancaster district
St Peter's Church, Heysham
St Peter's Church, Heysham
Location in the City of Lancaster district
54°02′51″N 2°54′07″W / 54.0474°N 2.9019°W / 54.0474; -2.9019
OS grid referenceSD 410 616
LocationHeysham, Lancashire
CountryEngland
DenominationAnglican
Websitehttp://www.heyshamparish.org.uk/
History
StatusParish church
DedicationSt Peter
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Heritage designationGrade I
Designated29 February 1950
Architect(s)E. G. Paley (restoration)
Architectural typeChurch
StyleAnglo-Saxon, Norman, Gothic,
Gothic Revival
Completed1864
Specifications
Capacity188
MaterialsSandstone rubble
Stone slate roofs
Administration
ProvinceYork
DioceseBlackburn
ArchdeaconryLancaster
DeaneryLancaster
ParishHeysham
Clergy
RectorRev Mark Nelson
Laity
Organist(s)Vacant
Churchwarden(s)G. Berry

St Peter's Church is in the village of Heysham, Lancashire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Lancaster, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the diocese of Blackburn.[2]

History

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It is believed that a church was founded on this site in the 7th or 8th century. In 1080 it was recorded that the location was the site of an old Anglo-Saxon church. Some of the fabric of that church remains in the present church. The chancel was built around 1340–50 and the south aisle was added in the 15th century.[3] The north aisle was added in 1864 and other extensions and restorations were carried out by the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley.[4] At that time an Anglo-Saxon doorway was moved and rebuilt in the churchyard, and two galleries which had served as private pews with their own entrances were taken down.[3]

Architecture

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The church is built in sandstone rubble with stone slate roofs. Its plan consists of a three-bay nave with north and south aisles under a continuous roof, a lower two-bay chancel with north and south aisles under pitched roofs, the south aisle containing a chapel, a south porch and a bellcote containing two bells on the west gable. The west front has a pair of buttresses between which is a blocked Anglo-Saxon round-headed doorway. Above this is a two-light 19th-century window. The east window of three lights dates from around 1300 as does the two-light window in the south wall of the chancel. Built into the chancel walls are coffin lids and the gravestone of a 17th-century vicar. The octagonal sandstone font probably dates from the 16th century.[1] The chancel arch has early Norman capitals with rope mouldings.[5] On the west wall is a medieval sepulchral slab with a floriated cross and sword.[3]

The Heysham hogback

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Main article: Heysham hogback
The hogback

In the south chancel aisle is an excellent 10th century Viking hogback stone which is covered in carvings of wolves, deer, and men on one side, and, on the other side, of a man next to a large tree with animals. It appears to be red sandstone and measures over six feet long, around a foot wide, and in the middle about 2 ft tall. Ewing (2003) reports a variety of interpretations of the images, including H. C. March's that the carvings are a representation of the poem Völuspá and the victory of Christianity over paganism. It also includes Edwards' (1998) claim that the meaning of the carvings is unknown.[3][6][7][8]

External features

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In the churchyard is the rebuilt Anglo-Saxon sandstone archway moved from the church in the 19th century. It is listed Grade II,[9] as is the walling to the west of the archway.[10] Also listed Grade II is a sandstone sundial shaft dated 1696,[11] and a medieval sandstone coffin.[12] Also in the churchyard is the lower part of the decorated shaft of an Anglo-Saxon cross on a modern sandstone base. It is a scheduled monument.[3][13][14] In addition the churchyard contains the war graves of eight Commonwealth service personnel of World War I, and three of World War II.[15]

See also

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Anglo-Saxon cross base

References

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  1. ^ a b Historic England, "Parish Church of St Peter, Heysham (1279836)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 6 June 2012
  2. ^ Heysham, St Peter, Church of England, retrieved 6 June 2012
  3. ^ a b c d e St Peter's History (PDF), St Peter's Heysham, retrieved 29 April 2008
  4. ^ Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, p. 220, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
  5. ^ Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 332–334, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
  6. ^ Ewing, T. (2003). Understanding the Heysham hogback: a tenth-century sculpted stone monument and its context. Transactions of the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1-20.
  7. ^ March, H. C. (1891) The Pagan-Christian overlap in the North, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, (TLCAS), 9, pp. 49—89.
  8. ^ Edwards, B. J. N. (1998) Vikings in North West England: The artifacts (Centre for North West Regional Studies, University of Lancaster), p. 94
  9. ^ Historic England, "Archway approximately 32 metres southwest of Parish Church of St Peter, Heysham (1208974)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 6 June 2012
  10. ^ Historic England, "Walling to west of archway in churchyard of Parish Church of St Peter, Heysham (1207216)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 6 June 2012
  11. ^ Historic England, "Sundial shaft approximately 18 metres south of Parish Church of St Peter, Heysham (1207217)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 6 June 2012
  12. ^ Historic England, "Stone coffin approximately 12 metres south of Parish Church of St Peter, Heysham (1208980)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 6 June 2012
  13. ^ Heysham St Peter's Churchyard, The Megalithic Portal, retrieved 29 April 2008
  14. ^ Historic England, "High cross in St Peter's churchyard, Heysham (1009491)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 6 June 2012
  15. ^ HEYSHAM (ST. PETER) CHURCHYARD, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 15 February 2013
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