---
title: "St Peter, Sandwich"
description: "Located in Sandwich, Kent. Built Late C11 or early C12 fabric; rebuilt C13 after 1216; aisles C14; tower rebuilt late C17 after collapse in 1661. Grade I. Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Churches Conservation Trust","Kent","Sandwich","Grade I","Gothic","Cinque Ports","Peter"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-peter-sandwich"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:37:32.137Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T18:58:32.067Z"
location: "Sandwich, Kent"
country: "England"
county: "Kent"
town: "Sandwich"
address: "Market Street, Sandwich, Kent, CT13 9DA"
postcode: "CT13 9DA"
built: "Late C11 or early C12 fabric; rebuilt C13 after 1216; aisles C14; tower rebuilt late C17 after collapse in 1661"
architect: "William White (1868 restoration, attributed)"
denomination: "Churches Conservation Trust"
dedications: ["Peter"]
grade: "I"
style: "Gothic"
materials: "Pebbles, stone rubble with stone dressings, and brick; tiled roofs"
openingHours: "See church website for opening hours."
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1343813"
gridReference: "TR 330 581"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas"
---

# St Peter, Sandwich

St Peter's is a Grade I former parish church on St Peter's Street, Sandwich, Kent, vested in the Churches Conservation Trust since 1974.

## Overview

Historic England records a church here by about 1100, with late-eleventh or early-twelfth-century fabric at the west end of the nave and in the base of the tower. The church was apparently destroyed by the French in 1216 and rebuilt later in the thirteenth century, when the chancel, north and south arcades, chancel chapels, clerestories and the vaulted undercroft south of the chancel were built. The aisles were widened and the chancel refenestrated in the fourteenth century; a north porch was added in the fifteenth. The south vestry was renovated in the mid-sixteenth century, perhaps for Dutch Protestants, and has a curved Dutch gable.

On 13 October 1661 the spire and upper tower collapsed, destroying the south aisle. The upper tower was rebuilt in brick with a square-domed cupola; the south arcade was blocked. Work of 1868 may have been to designs by William White. The three Sandwich parishes were united in 1948; St Peter's was used as a chapel by Sir Roger Manwood's School until 1973, declared redundant in 1973 and vested in the Trust in 1974. Fixtures include thirteenth-century sedilia, a series of late-fourteenth-century tomb recesses in the north aisle, and the custom of ringing the curfew bell at 8pm.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1343813](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1343813)
- [Kent HER: Church of St Peter](https://heritage.kent.gov.uk/Designation/DKE17783)