Church of St Peter

St Peter’s Church stands in the Derbyshire village of Hope, a Grade I listed building whose nave and aisles date from the 14th and 15th centuries. The tower was rebuilt in 1728–30 and the chancel restored in 1882. A sundial now occupies the base of an Anglo-Saxon cross shaft that once stood seven feet high in the churchyard. Another ancient cross, the stump of Eccles Cross, was moved here from south of Hope. The church shares its parish with St Barnabas’ Bradwell and St Edmund’s Castleton. The building’s history includes restorations by Alfred Hill in 1887 and Charles Hadfield in 1908, when stained glass windows were added. A Brindley & Foster organ installed in 1883 still plays in the nave. The church’s interior shows these layers of change, from medieval arches to Victorian fittings. Two silver chalices and a pewter plate were stolen in 2011 but later recovered. Visitors enter through a 14th-century doorway into a spacious nave lined with box pews. The 1883 organ loft sits above the south aisle, its pipes gleaming in afternoon light. The chancel’s five stained glass windows cast coloured patterns on the floor. Outside, the Anglo-Saxon cross and Eccles Cross stump stand beside weathered gravestones. The churchyard offers views across the Hope Valley towards Mam Tor.