St Peter's Church, Bournemouth

Parish church
name = St Peter's Church, Bournemouth


dedication = Saint Peter
denomination = Church of England (Anglican)
tradition = High Church
parish = St Peter with St Stephen
deanery = Bournemouth
archdeaconry = Bournemouth
diocese = Winchester
province = Canterbury
vicar = Revd Canon Jim Richardson
curate =
verger =
organist = Peter Roper-Curzon
warden =
warden1 =
website = [http://www.stpetersbournemouth.org/ Official website of St Peter's]

St Peter's Church is a Church of England parish church in Bournemouth in the English county of Dorset (formerly in Hampshire).

Architecture

The previous Bournemouth church was considered ugly, so Reverend Morden Bennett asked G.E. Street to create a finer church to match the beauty of the town. It was constructed between 1844 and 1879. (G.E. Street later designed the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand in Westminster.)

The church, which sits opposite Beales, was named the founding mother church of Bournemouth. It has unusual paintings, notable stained glass and alabaster.

Notable worshippers

St Peter's has famous connections including William Ewart Gladstone: the Prime Minister took his last communion here.

Notable burials

* Sir Dan Godfrey, who started Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1896 is buried here.
* Major General Richard Clement Moody, Lieutenant Governor of the Falkland Islands and the joint founder of British Columbia.
* Lewis Tregonwell: Founder of Bournemouth. In 1810, Tregonwell bought land from the Lord of the Manor of Christchurch and built a house next to the mouth of the River Bourne (which runs through the lower gardens today). His house was called The Mansion, and is now part of the Royal Exeter Hotel.
* John Keble: Vicar at Hursley in the New Forest, a professor of poetry at Oxford and pioneer of the Oxford movement. John and his wife moved to Bournemouth in 1865, he believing that being by the water would make his sick wife better. They stayed at 'Brookside', which is now the 'Hermitage Hotel'. He died in 1866. The Italianate style tower that remains is named after him. There are two stained glass windows of him in his cassock in the church.

helley family

The Shelley Family has a long connection with Bournemouth. Mary Wollstonecraft, a women's right protester and William Godwin, a radical thinker, are buried here alongside their daughter, Mary Shelley, author of "Frankenstein".

Mary Shelley's husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley died in the Gulf of Spezia in 1822. When his body was recovered, his friend took his heart. It now sits in the Shelley family vault. Mary Shelley's son, Sir Percy Florence Shelley bought land in Boscombe to build a house, believing that the balmy climate would help his sick wife and his mother. However, Mary Shelley never lived in Boscombe Manor. Sir Percy died in 1889 and his wife, Lady Jane Shelley died 10 years later. The family now rests in the family vault at St Peter's Church.

Clergy

The Reverend Canon Richardson was awarded the OBE in 2006 for services to the Church of England. [ [http://www.stpetersbournemouth.org/ St Peters Bournemouth] accessed 11/01/08]

References

* [http://www.bournemouth.co.uk/home/index.html?_area=about&_ber=269049&_rub=274905&id=409915&_site=pleasure]

External links

* [http://www.stpetersbournemouth.org/ St Peter's official website]