St. Peter, Urban and Rural

112. ST. PETER, Urban and Rural (St. Albans).

(O.S. 6 in. ^(a)xxxiv. N.E. ^(b)xxxiv. S.E. ^(c)xxxv. N.W.)

Ecclesiastical

^a(1). Parish Church of St. Peter, stands on the E. side of St. Peter's Street, about ½ mile N.E. of St. Albans Cathedral. It is built of flint with stone dressings; the central tower is of brick with angle buttresses of flint and stone. No traces remain of the church built by Wulsin, abbot of St. Albans, in the 10th century, but in the 13th century it appears to have been cruciform; it was altered and enlarged in the 15th century, and the earliest remaining parts, the arcades of the Nave, and the South Aisle, are of that date. The Central Tower was re-built in 1801–3, when the transepts were removed and the chancel shortened. The whole church was much altered and restored in 1893, by Lord Grimthorpe, who re-modelled the tower, and re-built the Chancel and Vestries, the clearstorey and W. end of the nave, the North Aisle and the South Porch.

Architectural Description—The Chancel and Central Tower (145½ ft. by 23 ft.) are modern; over the W. arch of the tower is the line of the former flat-pitched roof. The Nave (90 ft. by 19½ ft.) is of seven bays with lofty N. and S. arcades of c. 1440; they have clustered shafts, semi-octagonal moulded capitals and bases, and moulded arches of two orders; the W. bay is part of the 19th-century addition, but the capitals of the western responds are old. The angel corbels which supported the former flat roof remain, and are probably of the same date as the arcades. The South Aisle (10½ ft. wide), also of the 15th century, has tall windows of three lights each with tracery. Between each pair of windows is an engaged shaft with a moulded capital, probably originally intended to support a vaulted stone roof. The stonework of the S. doorway is apparently new. The North Aisle (14½ ft. wide) has been re-built in the same style.

Fittings—Brass: at E. end of S. aisle, of Roger Pemberton, 1627, and his wife and children; figures and modern copy of inscription. The children are said to be palimpsest on a brass of 1515. Glass: in the windows of the N. aisle, considerable quantity, in fragments, jumbled together, 15th-century. Painting: on shafts between the S. aisle windows, traces. Plate: includes silver-gilt chalice, paten, flagon, and covered bowl of beautiful workmanship, probably foreign; no hall marks; given c. 1667 by the Duchess Dudley: small paten of similar workmanship. Slabs: outside the E. end of the chancel, two, 17th-century. Miscellanea: in the vestry, funeral helm, 16th-century, and some shackles.

Condition—Good, owing to complete restorations.

Secular

^a(2). Homestead Moat, at Beaumont's Farm, fragment.

^b(3). Sopwell House, ruins, on the borders of the parishes of St. Albans and St. Peter, about ½ mile S.E. of the Cathedral, consisting of the fragmentary walls of the main building, two storeys high, and remains of inclosures and boundary walls of considerable extent. The walls are of red brick and flint with stone dressings. It is said that Sopwell Nunnery stood on or near the site of this house, and fragments of worked stones used in the boundary walls probably came from the conventual church and buildings. The house was built by Sir Richard Lee between 1540 and 1570, and has also been called Lee Hall and Sopwell Hall. The main building faces N. and S., and on the E. side a three-light transomed window, a moulded door jamb, and part of a string course remain. Two enclosures on this side measure together about 280 ft. from N. to S., and are divided by a wall about 80 ft. long, running E. from the main block. In the N.E. corner of the S. enclosure there is a small building with many recesses in the inner walls, probably part of a staircase. Beyond these two enclosures is a third, and a fourth at the N.W. corner of the main building has, in the S. wall, a doorway which shows traces of mouldings.

Condition—Very bad, some parts in danger of being pulled down by the ivy which covers them.

St. Peter's Street (E. side)

^b (4). House, No. 1, was probably built in the second half of the 16th century, but was much altered and enlarged in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and shows no external trace of its origin. It is built of brick, which possibly replaces or re-faces earlier walls of plastered timber, and is of two storeys. It is now divided into a dwelling house and a set of business offices, and appears to have been originally an L-shaped building, with the long arm facing the street, but an extra block has been added at the back. The long wing formerly contained the hall and a large room, or range of rooms, over it, which have now been sub-divided. The kitchens and offices are in the shorter wing. The hall is ceiled with plaster and across the ceiling there are heavy moulded beams and small moulded ribs forming a diamond pattern; in the middle of the N. wall, now in a passage, as a partition has been inserted, is a fireplace of moulded clunch with a straight-sided four-centred opening. The rooms at both ends of the hall on both floors are lined with panelling belonging to the first half of the 17th century. The S. room has mitred panelling, not in situ, and the room above it has panelling of an earlier date and an elaborate overmantel with pedimented architrave and baluster columns. The N. room on the ground floor has a clunch fire-place with an elaborate carved overmantel, and is lined with panelling of c. 1600. The panelling in the room above, it is of the same date with Ionic pilaster carved with arabesques.

Condition—Good; much altered.

^a(5). The Pemberton Almshouses were built by Roger Pemberton in 1627, as recorded on a stone in the central gateway, and consist of a long, one-storeyed building, of red brick, divided into a number of small tenements. The roof is tiled. The two-light windows with mullions and square heads, and the doorways with semi-circular heads are of brick. The narrow garden in front is bounded by a low brick wall, in which is the central gateway.

Condition—Good, partly repaired.

^c(6). Great Nasthyde, stands about 3 miles E. of St. Albans and 1¾ miles W. of Hatfield. It is a red brick building of two storeys and an attic, formerly a farm-house, and is of early 17th-century date. The high-pitched roof is tiled.

The house is exceptionally interesting, as the internal arrangement has been comparatively little altered since it was built.

The plan is H-shaped; on the S. side the wings project only slightly, and in the middle is a two-storeyed brick porch, with a moulded stone doorway in a round arch; on the N. side the wings are of greater projection, and the space between them is now enclosed up to the first floor, to form a new entrance hall. The main block is occupied by the original hall (present dining room) and servery (now a study). In the E. wing is the parlour (present drawing room) and stair hall, and in the W. wing the kitchen and back staircase. The wings have gabled ends, and the S. front has an intermediate gable, now plain, but an old view shows that all the gables were formerly curvilinear. The windows are mullioned and transomed, many of them have been restored to their original style, and others, which were blocked, have been opened and restored with cement. There are two original chimney stacks, one at the E. end and one in the middle, with octagonal shafts, moulded caps and bases. Many of the original arched fireplaces have been opened and restored. The principal staircase, which reaches to the first floor only, is of oak, and has heavy square newels with tall, moulded heads, moulded carriages and handrail and straight-sided balusters moulded lengthwise. Much original panelling has been re-fixed in new positions, and the paint removed from it.

Condition—Good.