Church of St Peter

St Peter’s Church stands in the small Rutland village of Tickencote. Built mostly of local limestone under Collyweston slate roofs, the church has a nave, a chancel, a two-storey tower and a north transept used as a vestry. The tower doubles as the main entrance porch, and the whole structure shows clear signs of its two main building phases. A mid-12th-century Norman core survives in the chancel arch and the sexpartite vault, while the rest of the building was rebuilt in 1792 by Samuel Pepys Cockerell at the expense of Miss Eliza Wingfield. The church passed into the care of the Churches Conservation Trust in 2019 and reopened to visitors in June 2022 after major repairs. The church’s most striking feature is the richly carved 12th-century chancel arch. Its six orders of decoration include beak-heads, zig-zags, royal figures, a Green Man and foliage, all set within a roll-moulded frame. Inside the chancel, a 14th-century wooden effigy rests in a recess and a wooden altar table from 1627 stands on the floor. The tower contains bells that once hung in a bell-cote at the west end of the chancel. A tablet inside the porch records Eliza Wingfield’s role in the 1792 rebuilding. Visitors step into a space where medieval craftsmanship meets 18th-century revival style. The nave’s exterior shows a free interpretation of Romanesque motifs, making it one of the earliest examples of Romanesque Revival architecture in Britain. The font, slightly later than the chancel arch, now stands near the arch though an 18th-century plan placed it closer to the west end. The churchyard holds the graves of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Ardglass, and Sir Edward Wingfield, linking the building to notable figures from the 17th century.