Taken from the booklet St Peter's Church and Yateley, Hampshire 1979 - 1981
by Sydney Loader

The church of St Peter, Yateley

Five thousand years ago the inhabitants of Yateley raised a sacred sarsen stone, at the same time as their contemporaries were erecting the temple of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain.

A great jump in time later, in the seventh century, the Saxons came, and built a stone church on this heathen spot, on the directions of Pope Gregory. This stone building must have been a strange new sight to the villagers since construction up until then had been in timber and thatch.

Old traditions and beliefs die hard, however, and the mystic sarsen stone was still revered, perhaps in fear of its supposed magical powers. So the huge stone was used for the corner stone of the new Saxon church, and the tip of it can still be seen today outside on the left side of the porch.

The eighth century brought disaster to Yateley! The countryside was ravaged by the Danes whose settlement was at Reading. The little Saxon church was sacked, only the lower three feet of the walls surviving. When the Saxons regained control, the walls were rebuilt to a height of twelve feet and the whole church restored by, it is believed, Aelfrige, the Saxon Lord of Yateley — a restoration of 1000 years a go

The rare lychgate to the church

Late in the eleventh century a Norman Lord enlarged the church, building the centre arches which unfortunately did not survive the fire of 1979. The Early English chancel was added about 1220, the south aisle in 1350, at the same time as the lovely old timber roof so greatly admired and remembered.
The tower, miraculously not as badly damaged in the fire as the rest of the church and now beautifully restored, was regarded as one of the finest examples of a wooden tower in the South of England. It was constructed in the time of the Tudors, c.1450, as was the porch. The eight bells in the tower cracked in the tremendous heat and have been melted down and recast in their original form.
The church was carefully restored by architect Mr. Blomfield in 1878, the peak of the Victorian era. A good example of his work can still be seen in the arch now incorporated in the new wall behind the new altar.

A row of wooden grave markers for the SIMMONDS family

St. Peter’s Church has been a testament in timber and stone to the continuous Christian life of the Church in Yately for a thousand years, many a soul finding a welcome calm and peace within its walls.

The tragic night of May 5th 1979 seemed at the time to mark the end for St. Peter’s, the desolation of smouldering beams and gaping roofs cutting us to the heart. But now, a tribute to the faith and per severance of parishioners and friends, it has risen from the ashes to continue, after the 21/2 - year interruption, that for which it has stood for centuries — a witness to the Christian faith in Yately, and a place of assembly for the worship of the Almighty.

DIARY OF THE FIRE Click on History then Fire