Saint Peter’s church has a proud history of being an early and significant location for Christian witness at the ‘bottom of Westmorland’, having begun its life as a monastic community and the only Anglian ‘minster’ in the county in the 8th century. Over time, it developed further into becoming a ‘mother church’ to a large area under the Normans with links to the Benedictine St Mary’s Abbey in York. This has been recorded in an attractive visual display in the tower area at the west end of the church into which the surviving carved shaft of an important 9th century Anglian cross has been relocated from the porch. Display boards summarise its history.
The following pages provide expanded information and background to these developments and provide insight into how Christianity came into the region.