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St Peter's Church, Nottingham

St Peter's Church, formally The Church of St Peter with St James, is an Anglican parish church in the city centre of Nottingham, England. It is part of the parish of All Saints', St Mary's and St Peter's, Nottingham.

The church is Grade I listed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a building of outstanding architectural or historic interest.[3]

History

St Peter's is one of the three mediaeval parish churches in Nottingham, the others being St Mary's and St Nicholas. The parish of St. James' Church, Standard Hill, founded in 1807 was united with St Peter's in 1933 and the official title "St Peter with St James" came into being. (St James's was demolished a few years later; some monuments from St James's are preserved in St Peter's.)

The church shows traces of many stages of construction from about 1180 onwards (the original church of around 1100 was destroyed by fire).

List of incumbents

Music

St Peter's has an organ, a choir and a series of Saturday morning concerts. The Organist & Director of Music since 2007 is Peter Siepmann.

Choir

The choral tradition at St Peter's was developed by Vincent Trivett (Organist 1906–1947), Kendrick Partington (Organist 1957–1994) and others. The choir sings in church every Sunday and frequently has concert performances. The choir often sings in other churches and cathedrals across the UK and abroad. This began with a visit to Lichfield Cathedral in 1969. In 2008 the choir sang the services for several days at Westminster Abbey.[4]

Concerts

St Peter's has a regular series of Saturday morning 'coffee break' concerts. These were started in 1988. The church also occasionally hosts more formal evening performances.

Organ

The first organ since the Commonwealth period was installed by Lincoln in 1812. This was enlarged by Lloyd and Dudgeon in 1863[5] and has been adapted and restored several times since by E. Wragg & Son, Henry Willis & Sons and Hill, Norman & Beard. In 1952, much of the organ of St Columba, Mansfield Road was incorporated into the St Peter's instrument.

A new organ was installed in 2010, and combines some ranks of new and re-used pipes with digital simulations of most stops. It is situated in the North-East corner of the church, retaining a historic eighteenth century case. The organ has been designed as a recital instrument, and to provide support for congregational singing, as well as accompanying the church's choir.[6]

Organists

There are notes of payments to organists in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

Clock

In 1552 Edward VI's commissioners delivered to 'parson' Nicholas Cooke a clock in the 'steeple', which had probably been there since the fifteenth century. The earliest reference in the church records 'chargs pyed owete fforw the church of St Peter's in the yre off oure lord god 1577 2 sh. to Toms Lockwood for looking after the clock.'[13]

In 1723–4, the Chamberlains' Account record a payment of £1 to the Sexton of St Peter's for ringing a 4 o’clock bell.[14]

On Wednesday 29 April 1846, a vestry meeting was called to consider the offer of new church clock.[15] On Thursday 15 October 1846, as Richard Ward, a man employed by Messrs. Taylor and Garrett, was assisting in taking down the old face of St. Peter's church clock, when it gave way. A rope attached to it dragged him with it.[16]

The new clock was installed in 1847, manufactured by Reuben Bosworth at a cost of £125 (equivalent to £14,429 in 2023)[17] and was at the time, the largest in Nottingham. It had a pendulum 10 feet 4 inches (3.15 m) long and a bob weighing 60 pounds (27 kg). It was an eight-day clock with four dials, each 7 feet (2.1 m) in diameter.[18] The clock was tested for several weeks before the hand on the dials were connected to the mechanism on 7 April 1847.[19] On Christmas Eve 1852 a hurricane broke off one of the minute hands of the clock.[20]

New cast iron clock dials, 7 feet (2.1 m) in diameter were presented by Henry Smith to the church in 1872[21] at a cost of £66 (equivalent to £7,443 in 2023).[17]

A new clock was installed by G. & F. Cope in 1881[22] which had a Denison Remontoire, compensation pendulum and wire rope lines. The strike was provided by a hammer on the hour bell on E. This was replaced by an electrically driven clock by Smiths of Derby in 1965.

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Peter's Church, Nottingham.
  1. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Peter with St James (Grade I) (1255013)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Know your city". Nottingham Evening Post. Nottingham. 12 August 1943. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  3. ^ Historic England. "Grade I (1255013)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 January 2009.
  4. ^ "St Peter's Choir - Nottingham Churches". nottinghamchurches.org.
  5. ^ Nottinghamshire Guardian - Friday 8 May 1863
  6. ^ "St Peter's organ - Nottingham Churches". nottinghamchurches.org.
  7. ^ a b Thoroton Society Record Series Volume VII (1939). The account books of the Guilds of St. George and St. Mary in the church of St. Peter, Nottingham. R.F.B. Hodgkinson.
  8. ^ "Mrs. Holland". Nottingham and Newark Mercury. England. 14 May 1836. Retrieved 4 November 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "It gives us the highest satisfaction…". Nottingham Review. England. 31 May 1844. Retrieved 4 November 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ Nottinghamshire Guardian - Thursday 26 September 1850
  11. ^ "Presentation to Mr. T.L. Selby". Nottinghamshire Guardian. England. 28 September 1883. Retrieved 4 November 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ Nottinghamshire Guardian - Saturday 2 December 1893
  13. ^ Bramley, J (1938). "St Peter's Church". Transactions of the Thoroton Society. 42: 45.
  14. ^ Records of the Borough of Nottingham. Vol. 6. Thomas Forman and Sons, Nottingham. 1914. p. 96.
  15. ^ "St Peter's Church Clock". Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties. England. 1 May 1846. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ^ "Accident in taking down St Peter's Church Clock". Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties. England. 16 October 1846. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  18. ^ "New clock for Saint Peter's Church, Nottingham". Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties. England. 15 January 1847. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  19. ^ "St Peter's Church Clock". Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties. England. 9 April 1847. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. ^ "Hurricane in Nottingham". Nottinghamshire Guardian. England. 30 December 1852. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. ^ "St Peter's Church, Clock". Nottingham Journal. England. 8 November 1872. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ^ "The new clock of St Peter's, Nottingham". Nottingham Journal. England. 15 September 1881. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

External links

Media related to St Peter's Church, Nottingham at Wikimedia Commons