St. Peter's Church, Staple Fitzpaine, in Somerset. A graceful tower in the folds of the Blackdown Hills.

At this time of year I thought, once again, it would be appropriate to post about notable Somerset churches.

Tucked away in the folds of the Blackdown Hills between Castle Neroche and Corfe is Staple Fitzpaine and its village church of St. Peter. The road north from the T junction between Staple Common and Neroche falls away steadily until you reach the fringe of Staple Fitzpaine where it begins to rise.  As you drive between the hedgerows uphill toward the village the tower of St. Peter’s Church rises above the trees ahead of you.

The church stands on a ridge between a manor house, built in 1840 as a rectory, and six almshouses founded by Sir William Portman in 1643.

St. Peter's Church, Staple Fitzpaine, in Somerset's Blackdown Hills.

Describing Staple Fitzpaine, Arthur Mee in his The Kings England, Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, 1968) writes: “Who will see a Somerset village looking at its best, let him come to this church gate with its row of seventeenth century cottages.  It is a charming place with an old-world setting for one of the loveliest towers in the county of great towers.”

Of St. Peter’s Church tower, Edward Hutton writes in his Highways and Byways in Somerset (Macmillan & Co., 1923): “No man can desire a better, I think, for though it is not very high, it is very nobly formed and its decoration is worthy of it, crowned as it is with a cluster of tufted spears, brave and graceful.”

The tower of St. Peter's Church, Staple Fitzpaine, in Somerset.  The gargoyles appear to be in the form of a goat.