Walworth, St Peter

Address: Liverpool Grove. SE17.

Map Ref: TQ325781

8 Bells • Tenor 3¾ cwt.

Sunday Service Ringing: 10.00 - 10.30 am.

Practice: Wednesday 7.30 - 9.00 pm.

Go through the west door into the nave. Turn right and right again and up the staircase to the ringing chamber.

This tower has its own website.

History

St Peter’s was built in 1825 to the designs of John Soane, as one of a series of “Waterloo” churches to serve the expanding population of London. A ring of eight bells was also cast by Thomas Mears of Whitechapel in 1825, the heaviest of these weighing 15cwt. The total weight of these bells was over 3 tons. Although they were rung regularly up till about 1914, they fell into disuse and became unsafe by the middle of the last century. Several attempts were made to restore them, but St Peter’s tower is quite small and the bells had to be hung on two levels, to fit the available space. The solution was to provide a smaller ring of bells.

In 1996 the parish was approached by St Anne’s Limehouse who were interested in installing a large ring of bells in their massive tower, and who had acquired a lighter ring of six bells from the redundant church of St Paul Homerton, the “Grocers Bells”. It was agreed to exchange St Peter’s heavier eight bells for the lighter six, in return for a contribution from St Anne’s towards the cost of installing them in St Peter’s.

Fund-raising began, but unfortunately the parish was unsuccessful in securing a 50% grant from the £3 million “Ringing in the Millennium” scheme. Never the less the parish continued fund-raising, and although the original target was not reached, sufficient was raised to purchase a light ring of eight bells from the redundant church of St Andrew, Short Street SE1 and to hang these instead, in February 2001.

Transport

By Road: Liverpool Grove is on the east side of Walworth Road, about halfway between the Elephant & Castle and Camberwell Green. Limited parking space is available in the churchyard or in nearby streets.

By Bus: Routes 12 35 40 42 45 68 171 176 343 468 and P5 run along Walworth Road close to the church.

By Train: To Elephant & Castle station (Thameslink) - use buses, or 10 minute walk along Walworth Road.

By Tube: To Elephant & Castle station (Bakerloo & Northern Lines) - as above.

Facilities

There are toilets in the church and crypt.

There are various pubs, restaurants and fast-food outlets in Walworth Road. The Beehive (cross Walworth Road, under the railway bridge and turn right) is the ringers’ pub.