St Peter's Church, formally The Church of St Peter with St James, is an Anglicanparish 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.
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
1241 - ? Master John de Nottingham
1259? William Bishop
1280 - ? John de Cathalle, "deacon"
1288 - ? Richard de Stapilford
1292 - ? Peter de Brus, of Pykering, "chaplain"
1300 - ? Adam de Kirkeby, "deacon"
by 1317 Master Adam de Pykering
1322 - 1323? Lancelot de Corembto, "acolyte"
1323 - ? William de Wylughby, "clerk"
by 1347 Robert Jolan
1347 - 1349 William de Whatton, of Stoke
1349 - 1370 Henry de Keworth, "chaplain"
1370 - 1375 Robert de Neubold, "priest"
1375 - 1409? William de Rodyngton, "clerk"
by 1411 Richard de Chilwell
1421? - 1426 Master Hugh Martyll
1426 - ? Master John Burton, "priest"
1430 - 1439 Robert Willoughby
1439 - 1445 John Drayton, "clerk"
1445 - 1484 Master William Gull
1484 - 1486 Master John Mayewe
1486 - 1499 Master Robert Colyngham
1499 - 1510 Master William Ilkeston
1510 - 1538 John Plowgh, senior, otherwise Kyngesbury
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.
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
1481-1482 And for 5s paid to the organist (lusori ad organa) in the aforesaid Church in this year.[7]
1516/17 - 1517/18 And for 6s 11d paid to Robert Dowse, organist, at the request of the greater part of the parishioners, in augmentation of his salary.[7]
On 25 October 1785, William Bradley was allowed one guinea for teaching the boys to sing.
Organist paid £12/12 in 1816 but cost was not borne by the church.
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.
^ abThoroton 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.
^"Mrs. Holland". Nottingham and Newark Mercury. England. 14 May 1836. Retrieved 4 November 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^Nottinghamshire Guardian - Thursday 26 September 1850
^"Presentation to Mr. T.L. Selby". Nottinghamshire Guardian. England. 28 September 1883. Retrieved 4 November 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^Nottinghamshire Guardian - Saturday 2 December 1893
^Bramley, J (1938). "St Peter's Church". Transactions of the Thoroton Society. 42: 45.
^Records of the Borough of Nottingham. Vol. 6. Thomas Forman and Sons, Nottingham. 1914. p. 96.
^"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.
^"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.
^"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.
^"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.
^"Hurricane in Nottingham". Nottinghamshire Guardian. England. 30 December 1852. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"St Peter's Church, Clock". Nottingham Journal. England. 8 November 1872. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.