page_title: Church of St Peter, Williton
section_title: Current building
hierarchical_section_title: Church of St Peter, Williton / Current building
caption_attribution_description: English: Nave of St. Peter's, Williton
context_page_description: The Anglican Church of St Peter in Williton in the English county of Somerset is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
  The earliest church on the site may have been the private chapel of a Saxon royal manor. In the 12th century Reginald Fitzurse was the Lord of the manor when he was one of the four knights who murdered Thomas Becket. It was then passed to his brother and the Knights Templar. The church was largely rebuilt in the 16th century and again in the 1850s as part of an extensive Victorian restoration.
  For many years St Peter's was a chapel of ease of Church of St Decuman, Watchet until 1889 when it became a separate parish. The parish is now part of the benefice of Watchet and Williton within the archdeaconry of Taunton.
context_section_description: Some of the fabric of the current building is from the 16th century. Further work was undertaken in the 17th century when the church was known as All Saints. In 1810 a south extension was built, although the Elizabethan windows were relocated and reused in the south wall. The church fell into a state if disrepair and in 1856 suffered a Victorian restoration under the architect Charles Edmund Giles. The priest responsible for the rebuilding and restoration of 1856 to 1859, Samuel Heathcote (at the Church 1854 to 1906), was appointed Perpetual curate but was signing the registers as Vicar from 21 November 1889 showing that Williton had become a parish separate from Watchet. The church had a small spire until it was damaged during a storm after which the bells were housed until a wooden bellcote until a new stone one was built in 1896.
  The church is built of red sandstone with Bath stone dressings. It now has a four- bay nave with north and south aisles and a chancel with a barrel vault roof.
caption: The nave
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