St Peter's has a distinctive Italianate basilica-style architecture. With its stark white walls and impressive high dome the outside of this building tempts visitors to explore further. Visitors will be delighted with the light, spacious and simple yet elegant interior. This church building is unique in South Yorkshire.
The church was built during World War Two and consecrated in 1942, the only church in the country to be consecrated during the war. The history of St Peter's reaches back to medieval times. The original medieval site is about half a mile from the current building. There was a Georgian restoration and subsequently the church was re-built in the Victorian period. A number of local people remember the old building well and there is a painting of it inside the entrance of the church. Revd Herbert Raison arranged the building of ‘The White Church’, as it has come to be known throughout Doncaster.
Inside there is a beautiful marble fronted altar. This marble and that used for the sanctuary steps was imported from Italy before the war. Placing something high up is always a sign of its significance in churches. The font is close to the entrance, under the narthex, and is higher up than the nave. Steps take visitors from the nave up under the chancel into the sanctuary and then again to the altar. From the sanctuary there is a wonderful view up very high to the inside of the huge dome. There are beautiful statues of Christ the King, Mary Mother of Jesus and St Peter. Their design is typical of statuary of that period.
In the Lady Chapel there are artefacts from the original building, including Celtic memorial crosses, what is thought to be an abbot's tombstone, a medieval piscina and an example of a Georgian memorial tablet. An interesting feature which ‘grows’ is the collection of beautiful hand-embroidered kneelers with individual dedications that have been made by people from the parish.
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