Church of St Peter and St Paul, South Petherton

The Church of St Peter and St Paul stands on the highest point of South Petherton, a Somerset village beside the old Fosse Way. Built on the site of a Saxon minster, the present cruciform church dates mostly from the 13th to 15th centuries and is Grade I listed. Its most striking feature is the rare octagonal central tower, said to be the tallest of its kind in Britain. The nave aisles have wide three-light windows from the 15th century, and both porches survive, the south one from the 14th century and the north one from the 15th. The church’s Gothic rebuilding was carried out in two main phases. The first, in the late 13th century, completed the chancel and began the tower’s lower stage. The second, in the 14th and 15th centuries, added the north transept, heightened the tower and finished the nave. Later restorations in the 19th century replaced fittings, removed galleries and added a vivid painting above the tower arch. The tower itself was restored in 1895 by two noted architects. Inside, the nave is wide with aisles almost as high, giving a spacious feel. The crossing vault is an unusual octopartite stone design, lower than the nave roof, with painted figures on the west wall. The chancel has a wooden ceiling from 1882 and a cinquefoil piscina. Ham stone forms most of the walls, while the chancel and south porch roofs are tiled and the rest is lead-covered.