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Archenfield Archaeology Ltd for the |
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St Peter's Church, Hereford |
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Although extensive renovation in both the late 18th and late 19th centuries has obscured much of the evidence, St Peter’s has surviving medieval features. The chancel of church dates from late 12th or early 13th centuries. The nave, rebuilt in around 1300, is as wide as that of the cathedral, and would have replaced the earlier one erected when the church was first built, as a monastic foundation, after the Norman Conquest. The original church was built by Walter de Lacy, lord of Weobley. In 1085 Walter fell to his death from the top of the building during its construction. |
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The monastic function of the church disappeared in the mid 12th century when it was combined with St Guthlac’s Priory and located to the north-east of the city in the area now occupied by the bus station and the new Hereford hospital. |
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St Peter's on John Taylor's map of Hereford - 1757. Encroachment of buildings on the Norman market area had by this time almost surrounded the church, with a large three storied building running south from the south chapel, next to the chancel. To the west of this, another, two story, building stood. The former of these seems to have been the Catherine Wheel public house which provided good viewing of the executions which took place in the street between it and the County Gaol opposite, on the site of the present Shire Hall. In 1783 the nave of the church faced another pub, the Boar’s Head, on the southern side of St Owen’s Street (then extending well into what was to become St. Peter’s Square). |
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In 1833 John Venn (1802-1890) became Vicar of St Peter’s and was to remain as such until 1870. John came from a prominent Anglican family. His grandfather Henry Venn had been vicar of Huddersfield. His father, John Venn the elder, became rector of Clapham in South London. He was the leader of the 'Clapham Sect' and was a noted anti-slavery campaigner and opponent of cruel sports. A friend of William Wilberforce, he also believed in prison reform and free education for the working classes. John's older brother, Henry was vicar of Drypool, Hull, 1827 and rector of St John's Holloway, London, 1834-1847. Henry's son, John's nephew, was another clergyman - the mathematician John Venn who invented the Venn diagram. |
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St Peter's Church in the early 19th century |
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John Venn the younger became one of the Hereford’s foremost philanthropists. On arriving in his new parish one of his first acts was the establishment of the St Peter’s Literary Institution, which catered for the intelligent working man. In 1837 he laid the foundation stone for the new St Peter's parish school. He founded the Hereford Friendly Society, and in 1841, the Hereford Society for Aiding the Industrious. |
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Through his Hereford Society for Aiding the Industrious Venn established a steam flour mill at Brookside in 1848. The steam from the mill was utilised in 1851 to heat new public baths behind the mill in buildings which are now the Masonic lodge (right). |
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The street on which the mill (now Berrows House) stands was renamed Bath Street later in the century. John Venn was author of a number of theological works including 'St Paul's Three Chapters on Holiness' and 'Commentary on St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians'. He was unmarried. |
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The grave of John Venn and his sister in the old St Peter's burial ground, Commercial Road, Hereford |
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maintained by Archenfield Archaeology Ltd |
