The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul or St Peter's Church, Wisbech, is an Anglican church in the market town of Wisbech, the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It is an active parish church in the Diocese of Ely. The church was founded in the 12th century. On 17 July 1951 the church became the first Grade I listed building in Wisbech. John Betjeman described St Peter and St Paul's church as "a typical town church with four-aisled nave, rather dark and dusty". Features of interest include the free-standing bell tower, a wall monument by Joseph Nollekens, and the reredos of 1885 which was designed by William Bassett-Smith and executed by Salviati. The Perpendicular tower was built detached from the rest of the church due to the instability of the soil here; so a collapse of the tower would not be disastrous for the rest of the church. An earlier tower of which the base remains had fallen onto the nave of an earlier church building. The tower is much more ornate in its higher stages and many of its patrons are commemorated in stone carvings. It is surmounted by a modern flèche. The interior is the work of many periods of building; the Norman nave is to the north of a second nave and each have both aisles and chancels. The Norman chancel was demolished and replaced by a larger one which is Decorated in style and has a fine east window.
History
The Puritan chapel of ease built in 1660 at Guyhirn, following the Restoration was adopted by the Wisbech St Peter vicar until 1854 when Wisbech St Mary was created a separate parish. W&H Burgess published an illustration of Wisbech St Peter's church from an engraving of 1800. It is included facing page 250 of History of Wisbech and Neighbourhood. When the church graveyard was full, Tillery Field was purchased in 1828 for use as a cemetery. Many of the victims of the 1832 cholera epidemic are buried here. It is now Tillery Park owned by the C of E and maintained by Fenland District Council.
Vicars
Catholic
1252 William de Norwold
1338 Dr. Rogers
1349 John Bolin?.
1384 William de Newton
1401 John Judde or Rudde
1422 John Ockham, LL.D.
???? William Abyngton
1448 John Clampain
1472 John Warkworth, D.D.
1473 William Gybbs
1494 William Doughty, LL.D.
1503 John Wyatt
1525 Robert Cliffe, LL.D.
???? John Cheeesewright
1537 William Lord
1544 William Hande
1549 Henry Ogle
1554 Hugh Margesson, A.B
Protestant
1587 Matthew Champion this year was a plague year.
1831 Henry Fardell, M.A. This year was a cholera year; 1849 was also.
On his decease in March 1854, the Living of Wisbech St Peter, which exceeded £2,000 in value at that time, was divided by the Eccliastical Commissioners into two parts, viz., Wisbech St Mary, made into a separate parish of the value of £900, to which the Rev. Henry Jackson, M.A. was presented, and Wisbech St Peter, then valued at £1,200, but now considerably diminished given to the Rev. William Bonner Hopkins, B.D.
1854-66 William Bonner Hopkins, B.D. 1854 was also a cholera epidemic year. 1865 saw the completion of the water supply from Marham.
The Rose Fair began in 1963 when local rose growers sold rose buds in the Parish Church in aid of its restoration fund. The church still uses this wonderful occasion to raise funds for the upkeep of its ancient building, but over the years, the Rose Fair has grown into a town festival. The gardens outside the church are transformed into a market place where other local churches and organisations provide stalls and activities to raise funds for their causes. On the Saturday the Wisbech round table organise a parade of floats through the town in the morning and afternoon. The flower festival theme for 2019 is "My kind of music".
