Photos of St Peter's by Stuart Kay
St Peter's Kirkbampton
Postcode: CA5 6JB
Opening times: Open 10 am to 4 pm daily
Parking: roadside
Church accessed via steps in churchyard
Free entry
Church Safeguarding contact please visit the Safeguarding page.
For information about services, events and parish groups in the Barony of Burgh Benefice.
History
Founded in 1194, the church is still very much as it was built, with the addition of a Victorian porch and vestry. The carved Norman doorway leads into the church and the Norman chancel arch has wonderful carving, with the face of a green man on the left. In the 1870s restoration work and the removal of the plaster from the chancel stonework, revealed a Roman carved stone, which was probably from Hadrian’s Wall, which was only a mile from the church.There is a small window in the sanctuary of the type often described as a ‘lepers’ squint’ and also an aumbry, which was a safe which would at one time have been used to hold the Reserved Sacrament. On the right of the altar is a restored piscina, where the vessels used for Holy Communion would have been washed.The two bells, still in use today, were cast in 1705.Of special interest is the Roman stone in the south wall, inscribed VEX, LEG P.F.FEC – translated ‘The troops of the 6th Legion, the victorious, pious & faithful did this work’.