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PETERSTONE
The church of St. Peter is an ancient building of stone with Bath stone dressings, in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a western tower with pinnacles and spire, containing 6 bells, four of which are dated 1726. The original church.was rebuilt in the 12th century by Mabilee, daughter of Sir Robert Fitzsymon, a Norman knight who lived at Cardiff Castle. The tower is a fine example of Perpendicular work. The church was restored during the years 1889-91 at a cost of over �2,000, raised by subscription, in memory of the Hon. Lady Walker, wife of Sir George Walker, of Castleton, under the direction of Messrs. Bodley and Garner, architects, London. One of the bells was also recast at a cost of �12. The church has 1,000 sittings. The register dates from the, year 1707, and under the date March 1st, 1870, contains an entry of the burial of Joseph Jones, farmer, at the age of 104. There is a parish terrier about three centuries old. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value �70, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Bristol; the rectorial tithes, �142 yearly, with 100 or more acres of glebeland, are held by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. There is a Baptist chapel, built in 1865. Near the parish church are the traces of an old floating dock and a market house, with store houses &c. showing that an extensive trade. must have once been carried on here: many of the old inhabitants of the parish remember that the foundations of various old houses were used to make the present roads: the ancient town with many of its inhabitants. was destroyed by marine floods which broke through and destroyed the badly kept embankments. Colonel F. Lockwood, Lord Tredegar and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who are the lords of the manor, and Charles Theodore Halswell Kemeys-Tynte and John Heath Stubbs esqrs. are the principal landowners. The soil is rich loam, subsoil, clay. The chief crops are pasture, corn and beans. The area is 2,099 acres of land and 1,267 of foreshore; rateable value, �7,689; the population in 1891 was 135. Parish Clerk, Henry Rees. Letters through Cardiff, via Marshfield, arrive about 7.20a.m. Castleton is the nearest money order & telegraph office, about 3 miles distant. The Pillar Box at Marshfield station is cleared at 5.20 p.m. and the one in the School wall at 5 p.m., not sundays. A School Board of 5 members was formed 11 March, 1873; John French Williams, Peterstone, clerk to the board; Edmond Thomas, Peterstone, attendance officer. Board School, built in 1875, for 48 children; average attendance, 27; Benjamin P. Jones, master.
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