• Bring light back to St Peter’s
  Can you help bring light back to St Peter’s Wolfhampcote with a beautiful stained glass window? With the support of the Churches Conservation Trust, the Friends are committed to raising funds to help return stained-glass to St Peter’s for the first time in over 50 years. … Read more: Bring light back to St Peter’s

Welcome to St Peter’s of Wolfhampcote

St Peter’s is a church of great historic interest, situated in Warwickshire, in the small hamlet of Wolfhampcote. Sir John Betjeman took a great interest in the church and described it as ‘a perfect un-‘restored’ village church, with traces of painting on the walls, fading monuments, old woodwork’.  Read the full article which describes his first visit to the church in the late 1940s, with his friend, the artist John Piper.

Can you help bring light back to St Peter’s Wolfhampcote with a beautiful stained glass window?

With the support of the Churches Conservation Trust, the Friends are committed to raising funds to help return stained-glass to St Peter’s for the first time in over 50 years. 

The first meeting of the Friends of Wolfhampcote Church was chaired by Sir John Betjeman in 1971 in the House of Lords. This was the first ancient ‘friendless’ church to be saved because of its history and its beauty. Now again we need help, this time to replace the disintegrating dismal polycarbonate in the windows with heritage glass, and some stained glass by recognised masters of the art.

Prior to vesting and due to historic vandalism the windows are all polycarbonate, which over the decades have seriously degraded with sunlight, all are cloudy and failing excluding natural light from the church.  All of these panels need replacing with plain or stained glass and we know that this is a huge aspiration due to the number and size of the windows and the remoteness of the church. 

With the support of the Friends of St Peter’s, the Churches Conservation Trust will glaze one window initially to also test the feasibility of a wider scheme, returning stained glass to St Peter’s for the first time in over 50 years.  The uplifting re-glazing scheme will bring joy and light back to the church.  The theme of the window is pilgrimage that the church has stood for over 1000 years offering peace and tranquillity through the journey of life, a theme which will carry through any future windows. 

The project will include a week long craft skills training programme for eight students with a focus on conserving the window’s surrounding stonework, using St Peter’s as a ‘living classroom’ and supporting the nationally recognised shortage of skilled craftspeople.

To help the windows project continue please donate to: the Friends of Wolfhamcote account giving your name as reference: FRIENDS OF WOLFHAMCOTE CHURCH 30-99-50 87516468

Where to Find Us

Wolfhampcote stands in an isolated position on the eastern edge of Warwickshire, not far from where the modern A45 runs past the hillside village of Braunston in the neighbouring county of Northamptonshire. The church of St Peter can be found near the upper reaches of the river Leam (which gives its name to Leamington Spa) near a handful of buildings which are all that remain of this deserted medieval village site.

Please visit the Find Us page for detailed directions.

Visit the church to see a Queen Anne Royal arms, an intricately carved 14th century screen, a Victorian Hood mausoleum, ancient oak pews and the chancel’s beamed roof. To find out more about its history please browse through here to find various information on the local area and the church itself, including a short film, set at the church, detailing its history.

The Churches Conservation Trust

The church is a listed building and is maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust. The CCT is a national charity which protects historic churches at risk and has saved over 340 unique buildings which attracted over 1.5 million visitors last year. With the help and support of the public these historic churches are kept open, in use and free to all. Visit the Churches Conservation Trust for more information, and to donate in order to support the upkeep of St Peters.

Concerts and Champing at the Church

The church is no longer used for religious services but regular events are held there and it is open to the public to visit. See News & Events for information on events such as the annual carol concert or musical recitals held in the church.

For an extended visit, the church is listed as a location to go ‘champing’ – spend a night in the church to really experience this ancient site. Champing™ is a unique concept created by the the Churches Conservation Trust – the proceeds will go to supporting those churches the charity protects. For further information and to book your stay please visit Champing™.