Trail:

St Peter's

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Bristol, St Peter's

ST PETER'S, Castle Park. Blitzed ruin.

  • Opening: interiors not open.
  • Access: exteriors fully paved and level.
  • Map

St Peter's, like St. Mary-le-Port, is probably of Saxon foundation. It sat just W of the castle walls, and S of a Saxon sunken way running W to St Mary le Port. By the 19th century this area was the heart of Bristol's old shopping centre; it was heavily bombed in 1940. Castle Park was laid out from the 1970s around St. Peter's, which is now a memorial to Bristol's civilian war dead. The Pennant stone walls are particularly varied in colour.

Unbuttressed north-west tower with two-lightGlossary Term Perp windows in the upper stages; at its baseGlossary Term, possibly 11th century stonework around the west door. Generous Perp naveGlossary Term and south aisleGlossary Term both c.1400. Slender north naveGlossary Term arcadeGlossary Term with slender Perp piers of quatrefoilGlossary Term plan. South aisleGlossary Term with five-lightGlossary Term Perp windows between narrow buttresses. Narrow north aisleGlossary Term on NormanGlossary Term plan, with a large bullseye windowGlossary Term, probably 17th century. East window blockedGlossary Term at some point for a reredosGlossary Term. Tower and north naveGlossary Term arcadeGlossary Term consolidated with concreteGlossary Term 1975.

Glossary

Aisle

Subsidiary space alongside the body of a building, separated from it by columns, piers or posts. Also (especially Scots) projecting wing of a church, often for special use, e.g. by a guild or by a landed family whose burial place it may contain.

Arcade

Series of arches supported by piers or columns (compare colonnade). Blind arcade or arcading: the same applied to the wall surface. Wall arcade: in medieval churches, a blind arcade forming a dado below windows. Also a covered shopping street.

Base

Moulded foot of a column or pilaster. An Attic base is the form used on an Ionic column, with two large convex rings joined by a spreading convex moulding.

Blocked

Interrupted by regular projecting blocks (blocking), as on a Gibbs surround.

Bullseye window

Small oval window, set horizontally. Also called an oeil de boeuf.

Concrete

Composition of cement (calcined lime and clay), aggregate (small stones and rock chippings), sand and water. It can be poured into formwork or shuttering (temporary framing of timber or metal) on site (in-situ concrete) or pre-cast as components before construction. Reinforced: incorporating steel rods to take the tensile force. Pre-stressed: with tensioned steel rods. Finishes include the impression of boards left by formwork (board-marked or shuttered), and texturing with steel brushes (brushed or bush-hammered), picks or hammers (pick-hammered or hammer-dressed).

Light

Compartment of a window defined by the uprights or mullions.

Nave

The body of a church west of the crossing or chancel, often flanked by aisles.

Norman

The English version of the Romanesque style, which predominated in Western Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries; so called because it was propagated after the Norman Conquest in 1066. It is associated especially with the expansion of monasticism and the building of large stone churches, and is characterized by massive masonry, round-headed arches and vaulting inspired by ancient Roman precedent, and by the use of stylized ornament.

Quatrefoil

A four-lobed opening.

Reredos

Painted and/or sculpted screen behind and above an altar.

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