Half St.Peter

We have looked acroos the valley every day since we came to Stanley and seen the twin towers of St.Peter's Church.

The church was built using funds from war reparations from Austria after the Battle of Waterloo and was completed in 1824. It's design, with two western towers and open fireplaces was controversial and it proved to be an unlucky building, various design faults were 'fixed' piecemeal in the 19 century, but the church burned down in 1911. Rebuilt in 1913 it was prone to problems caused by subsidence from the local mine workings and finally it was decided that continuing maintenance was too expensive. After years of efforts to keep it open, the congregation moved to a local school in 2001, ironically the same building they inhabited after the 1911 fire.

St. Peter's stood derelict for the last 13 years and was finally demolished this week. The iconic towers were the last to go. Here is the last man standing just prior to its toppling this afternoon.

Courtesy of 1966man