Peter-Port Church, St;—
Or, the Town Church, consists of a chancel, nave, North and South aisles, and North and South transepts, with a square tower at their intersection. It is of the later gothic style of France, termed the Flamboyant, and many of its portions are richly decorated within and without. An old stone pulpit, which was removed from its extremely mutilated state, was once one of the antique ornaments of the South pier of the chancel; and in the East end of the North aisle is a slab on which are three figures, the right and left being apparently ecclesiastics; but as the stone is so much worn by the attrition of time, it is difficult to decipher. In the East walls of the North and South ailes are most elegant piscing, the canopies of which are crocketed, finialed, and pinnacled, and the interior moulding of the arch and sides formed of crumpled leaves and creeping animals. The shelves consist of brackets of leaves, above which are two niches, square-headed and trefoiled. The mouldings and canopies of the North porch and West door are crocketed, finialed and pinnacled, and are deserving of considerable notice. In the South transept are octagonal pillars without capitals, so that the mouldings of the archivolt run into them, and in the East wall is a piscina cut in granite, ogee-headed and trefoiled with a shelf across it. The tower, which has a window in each side, is square and embattled, and is surmounted by a short octagonal spire, that was erected in the year 1721. At the angles of the tower and elsewhere, are line-course gurgoyles representing human figures, scutcheons and lions' heads and shoulders.
This church was consecrated on the 1st of August, 1312; and was the last of the ancient churches consecrated by a Roman Catholic Bishop in the island. It has a very handsome pulpit and reading-desk, and of late years the whole building has been renovated. It also contains a fine deep-toned organ, which originally cost between seven and eight hundred pounds, and which has since been removed to the North aisle, where it appears to considerable advantage. The tower has a clock, and a merry peal of eight bells, and its height from the vane to the ground is 132 feet, being the highest in the island. There are two French services and one in English every Sunday, and there are sittings for 1400 persons.
East View of the Town Church.
Peter-in-the-Wood Church, St—
Has undergone less change than any other in the island, as the tracery of the windows still remain untouched, and the ornamental parts almost perfect. It has many Norman portions, and the windows in the North and South walls of the chancel are in that style, the inside walls being splayed and quite plain. It is built on the West side of a hill, which causes the chancel to rise several feet higher than the West end of the nave, insomuch that walking from the tower to the chancel is not unlike going up hill. The nave once contained a monumental brass plate representing a respectable personage or merchant, which from the cut of the stone appears to be about the year 1560. The consecration of this church took place in the year 1167.
St Peter-in-the-Wood's Church.