St. Peter's Church, Wolverhampton

St Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton
St Peter's Collegiate Church
Denomination	Church of England
Previous denomination	Roman Catholic
Churchmanship	High Church
Website	St. Peter's Collegiate Church
History
Dedication	Saint Peter
Administration
Parish	Central Wolverhampton
Diocese	Lichfield
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Rector	The Rev'd Preb David Wright
Priest(s)	The Rev'd Eddie Brookes
Laity
Organist/Director of music	Harry Castle (acting)
Organist(s)	Callum Alger, Toby Barnard, Dr. David Rendell (emeritus)
Churchwarden(s)	Sue Bowden and Deborah Castle
Verger	Maureen Bolton

St Peter's Collegiate Church is located on the northern side of central Wolverhampton, England. For many centuries it was a chapel royal, and from 1480 a royal peculiar, independent of the Diocese of Lichfield and even the Province of Canterbury. The collegiate church was central to the development of the town of Wolverhampton, much of which belonged to its dean. Until the 18th century, it was the only church in Wolverhampton and the control of the college extended far into the surrounding area, with dependent chapels in several towns and villages of southern Staffordshire.

Fully integrated into the diocesan structure since 1848, today St Peter's is part of the Anglican Parish of Central Wolverhampton. The Grade I listed building, much of which is Perpendicular in style, dating from the 15th century, is of significant architectural and historical interest. Although it is not a cathedral, it has a strong choral foundation in keeping with English Cathedral tradition. The Father Willis organ is of particular note: a campaign to raise £300,000 for its restoration was launched in 2008.

St Peter's is an Anglo-Saxon foundation. The history of St Peter's was dominated for centuries by its collegiate status, from the 12th century constituted as a dean and prebendaries, and by its royal connections, which were crystallised in the form of the Royal Peculiar in 1480. Although a source of pride and prosperity to both town and church, this institutional framework, hard-won and doggedly defended, made the church subject to the whims of the monarch or governing elite and unresponsive to the needs of its people. Characterised by absenteeism and corruption through most of its history, the college was involved in constant political and legal strife, and it was dissolved and restored a total of three times, before a fourth and final dissolution in 1846-8 cleared the way for St Peter's to become an active urban parish church and the focus of civic pride.