St Peter And St Paul

EXTERIOR: The C14 2-stage tower is the earliest element of the exterior, although it was remodelled in the C15.

The C14 tower arch is double-chamfered, dying into the imposts.

On the south side the arcade is C13, with pier of quatrefoil section, double-chamfered arches, and responds with keeled shafts.

The piscina and adjacent blocked priest's doorway are also C13, under arches with single chamfer.

Roofs are mostly C19, with castellated tie beams to nave and chancel, but the north chancel aisle has a 3-bay roof retaining C16 cambered tie beams, 2 of which have bosses.

The chancel has a tile floor, the nave a stone-paved floor, with floorboards below the pews.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The main interior features of interest are 2 C15 wall paintings, restored in 1961.

A large C15 Doom painting is on the north wall of the north chapel, one of the best surviving examples in Leicestershire.

Notable post-Reformation features include the organ case of c1700, set on panelling from a late C18 gallery, a repainted Royal Arms of 1778, benefaction and commandment boards.

The octagonal font was installed in 1887 but its cover (moved to the south chapel at the time of inspection) is C17.

The polygonal pulpit has similar panels and fluting.

A monumental brass has an inscription to William Wolstanton but on the reverse side is a C14 head, probably of Flemish origin.

In the chancel north wall is a standing neo-classical wall monument to Henry Shuttleworth by J. Wing.

One window in the south aisle is by Hardman SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The churchyard is bounded by stone and cob walls (LBS no 189759), and has tombs of C17-C19.

HISTORY: The building is C13 in origin, evidence for which is the south chancel arcade and piscina and blocked priest's doorway.

The tower was added in the C14, by which time the present plan of the church was probably established.

Nave and aisles were rebuilt and heightened in the C15.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Church of St Peter and St Paul, Great Bowden, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * It is a substantially complete medieval church of the C13-C15, especially notable for its C13 and C15 arcades

C14 tower, well-restored in the C19. * It has a late-medieval Doom painting, a type universal in pre-Reformation churches but which is now an extremely rare survival. * It has other features of special interest, including the organ case of c1700, C17 font cover, medieval brass, and another fragment of medieval wall painting.