St Peter, Finsthwaite

St Peter’s is a Grade II* Victorian parish church southeast of Finsthwaite village in the Lake District, Cumbria, in the Diocese of Carlisle and the Leven Valley benefice. Historic England records a church of 1873–79 by the Lancaster partnership of Paley and Austin.

Overview

Paley and Austin won an 1873 competition organised by the Carlisle Church Extension Society for “mountain chapels”. Wikipedia, following the listing, gives groundbreaking in 1873 and completion in 1874. The listing describes coursed stone rubble with sandstone dressings and a slate roof with tile ridge: a four-bay nave and chancel with a tower between them, a north organ loft under a catslide roof and an adjoining lean-to vestry. Round-headed windows, a timber-framed north porch on low stone walls, and a high pyramidal tower roof with raking louvred dormers and a weather-vane give the church a Romanesque Revival character. The west end has two windows on a weathered sill band under a continuous hoodmould; the east end has three windows, the central one wider, with a flushwork cross below the sill.

The interior has single-rafter roofs with braced collars. The listing notes good simple stalls, organ case and altar rail, a reredos of 1883, and stained glass including work by Webster of Kendal. The Buildings of England series calls the church “a brilliant essay” and groups it with Paley and Austin’s churches at Torver and Dolphinholme. The church remains an active Anglican parish church, usually open daily.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1225177
• Wikipedia: St Peter's Church, Finsthwaite
• St Peter, Finsthwaite