Church of St Peter Parish Church of St Peter

St Peter's Church is the ancient parish church of the market town of Raunds in Northamptonshire, standing in an elevated position in Church Street at the heart of the town. Noted for its exceptional medieval wall paintings and for its splendid tower and soaring spire, it is one of the finest churches in a county famous for its medieval churches. A Grade I listed building, largely of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, St Peter's gathers many centuries of history, art and craftsmanship into one building.

The present church is thought to stand on the site of an earlier place of worship, but the majority of the existing structure was erected between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Until the fifteenth century the church was dedicated to St Mary; the dedication now used is to St Peter. The building is axially oriented towards the chancel and rood screen, and consists of a nave, two aisles, a south aisle chapel, a south porch and an imposing west tower and spire, the walls being built of limestone with ashlar dressings. The large central nave is divided from the north and south aisles by a double set of six-bayed arcades, surmounted by a double set of seven clerestory windows — a spacious and dignified interior. The spire, long claimed to be 202 feet high, was found by a 2011 survey by the architect Julian Flannery to be 176 feet (54 metres) high, still a commanding landmark over the town.

The church is rich in medieval and later furnishings and monuments. The bowl of the thirteenth-century circular font is decorated with a carving of a ram's head — a play on the name of the town. A brass set in the floor commemorates John Tawyer, who died in 1470, and his wife Margaret, and there is a tomb-chest dedicated to John Wales, vicar from 1447 to 1496. In the south chapel are monuments to Robert Gage, who died in 1606, and William Gage of Magilligan in Ireland, who died in 1632, along with a number of other substantial monuments. Most remarkable of all are the medieval wall paintings that survive within the building, and the church also features a rare carved decoration of a 'left-handed fiddler' above the western entrance.

In the Victorian age the interior was restored in 1874 and 1878 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the most prolific church architect of the period, work that involved the removal of a west gallery and alterations to the chancel. The fine three-manual organ was built by Peter Conacher of Huddersfield — one of the largest organs the firm produced — and was donated in 1893 by John King-Smith, a prominent boot manufacturer in Raunds; it was most recently restored in 2006. In 2007 the parishes of Raunds, Hargrave, Ringstead and Stanwick were legally united as "The 4 Spires Benefice", with each village retaining its own church, and St Peter's continues as an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Peterborough.

The church stands in Church Street in Raunds, a market town in the Nene Valley in east Northamptonshire, long associated with the boot and shoe trade. The neighbouring towns of Wellingborough, Kettering and Higham Ferrers lie close by, along with Stanwick Lakes and the water meadows of the River Nene, the historic churches of the Nene Valley, and the wider countryside of Northamptonshire.

From a church largely built between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, through its medieval wall paintings, font and monuments, the restoration by Sir Gilbert Scott in the 1870s and its place today in the 4 Spires Benefice, St Peter's Church gathers many centuries of history into one building. A Grade I listed church whose spire rises over the town, it remains the living parish church of Raunds — one of the great medieval churches of Northamptonshire.