A brief history of St Peter's
The church is a brick building built in 1954 and dedicated on 5 November 1955. Designed by N.F. Cachemaille Day and Partners. It consists of a nave with slender columns and narrow aisles; a large sanctuary to the east end and with small transepts to north and south. There is a tower over the east end. The main entrance to the church is through a small porch on the south side of the building. The east end contains three worship areas; the central sanctuary, the north transept (Baptistry) which is carpeted and used for children's worship and informal groups and the south transept (the Lady Chapel) which is used as a small chapel.
The lovely sanctuary with its east window depicting the first Easter dawn dominates the building although also worthy of mention is the modern sculpture of Christ Glorified given in memory of Albert Pullen and Michael Benson, above the Lady Chapel Altar; the Rose window at the west end showing the keys of St Peter and the Altar cloths and matching pulpit falls designed by Juliette Hemingray to co-ordinate with the modern church design. Above the altar is suspended a striking red cross, incorporating the victorious lamb and banner motif.
The church was originally used as a dual purpose building and had enormous screens which closed off the sanctuary and allowed the nave (which had a stage at the west end) to be used as a hall for community use. In the 1960's a hall was built adjoining the church and the building reverted to solely church use. The large screens were removed. The stage was removed at a later date and the area is now carpeted.
During the week the church hall is used as a council sponsored community centre. Since the nave contains moveable chairs, the church is re-arranged mid-week to enable church-run children's and teenager's activities to take place. The church was also designed to have a bell hung outside the building but this never took place and the bell sits in the porch! The exact design for our church was used again to build a sister church St. Michael and All Angels at Borehamwood, but because of the different designs in windows, decor and furniture they look quite different.