St Peter's Church, Ropsley

In the 1086 Domesday account a church is recorded at Ropsley. St Peter's originates from the 11th century, with later alterations up to the 17th. The original church was Saxon, parts of which remain in the nave, with a chancel and north aisle with arcade later added by Normans. The chancel was shortened, probably in the 17th century. Richard Foxe, bishop and founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, who was born in Ropsley in 1447–48, provided for the building of the church porch in 1483. Cox confirms the 1483 date, however, Pevsner and English Heritage give the date of porch building, from an inscription above the south door, as 1486. The porch was restored in 1903–04. St Peter's parish…

St Peter's accommodates seating for 200. The interior contains a north arcade of three bays with circular piers, square abaci, and rounded arches. The chancel arch is Early English, as is the south arcade where one octagonal pier is a 1380 replacement attributed, by inscription, to Thomas Bate, mason of Corby: "Ista columna facta fuit ad festum Sancti Michaelis, Anno Domini MCCCLXXX et nomen factoris thomas bate de Corby." There are two tomb recesses, one in the south aisle and plain, the other, in the chancel. Pevsner describes the chancel recess as 13th-century, with English Heritage noting it as 14th. Within the chancel is an aumbry, and a double-niche sedilia or Easter Sepulchre, both…