Church of St Peter and St Paul, Blockley

The Church of St Peter and St Paul in Blockley is Norman, built in around 1180. The church was extended on the north side towards the end of the 13th century. Several other additions have been made over the last few hundred years and now only one of the original Norman Lancet windows remain.

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a Church of England parish church in Blockley, Gloucestershire, England. The church is a Grade II* listed building.

The Church of England parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul is late Norman, built in about 1180. The chancel is of three bays but only one of the six Norman lancet windows, that at the east end of the north wall, survives unaltered. At the end of the 13th century a two-storey extension was added on the north side of the chancel. The upper floor is a chantry chapel and the lower is a vestry. In about 1310 the east window of the chancel was inserted and at least two of the windows in the south wall of the chancel were enlarged in the Decorated Gothic style. At the end of the 14th century the north aisle was added, linked with the nave by an arcade of four bays. The large Perpendicular Gothic window in the middle of the south wall of the chancel was inserted in the 15th century, replacing the Norman original.

The south porch was added in 1630, the clerestorey was added to the nave in 1636 and the north arcade was probably rebuilt in the same century. The bell tower was built in 1725, probably replacing an earlier one. The west gallery was inserted in 1735. The church was restored and the north porch added in 1871. By 1854 the tower had a ring of six bells, of which the two oldest were cast in 1638 and the remainder in 1679, 1683, 1729 and 1854. The bells were increased to a ring of eight, and in 2016 an appeal was launched to replace the bell frame and to increase the number of bells to ten.

The church in Blockley was dedicated to the two Saints PETER & PAUL, also known as the "Prince of the Apostles". Their common feast day in the calendar of saints is June 29th for all major denominations.
* Simon, nicknamed Peter (Rock), was a fisherman on Lake Genesareth when he was called by Jesus Christ to be a "fisher of men" together with his brother Andrew. In works of fine art, Peter is almost always depicted with two keys in his hand; this attribute refers to the Bible verse in Matthew: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Chapter 16, Verse 19).
* Paul was initially an opponent of the Christian movement and was not called to the apostleship by Jesus Christ during his lifetime like the other apostles, but was only converted later with the famous "Damascus experience". His attribute is the sword with which he was executed. According to the Roman law of the time, such a sentence was a "privilege" (quick death and not, like other forms of execution, a long, painful death struggle) that was reserved for the citizens of Rome.