It is likely that a Saxon church stood on this site for the best part of a thousand years but the only evidence of it which presents itself today are some foundation stones at the west end. There are other squared stones which were used in the construction of the present building when it was rebuilt c. 1480 - the Chancel Arch and much of the Tower are of this period.

The Chantry Chapel was added, almost certainly by William Longe (the lord of the manor), and has since been restored in 1896 and again in 1955.

THE TOWER
The tower shows similarities with those of several other Churches in North Dorset and South Somerset - a good example may be seen only five miles to the north at Blackford where the tower possesses very similar pinnacles at each of its corners. There is a part of a painted surround on the North Wall of the Tower with a black-letter inscription dating from c. 1700.

A brass plaque near door to the tower steps records;-

THE TOWER WAS RESTORED IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1905 CA COWAN   RECTOR   JB HAYTER HR WATSON CHURCHWARDENS THE TOWER WAS RESTORED IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1905 TO THE MEMORY OF DOREEN  WALTHAM DJ HILLIER   RECTOR   J WALTHAM HS SHEPHERD CHURCHWARDENS

THE PULPIT
The Pulpit has a hexagonal sounding board with an inlaid star in the centre.

St Peter's possesses three bells; the first and second both dated 1602 and the third, cast by Thomas Purdue, is dated 1667.

MEMORIALS
Nathaniel Highmore, contemporary and friend of another famous physician, William Harvey, and who is famous in his own right is buried to the right of the altar in the sanctuary under the blue memorial stone (several of the Highmores were rectors here, including his father, also Nathaniel). A framed panel on the Longe tomb gives visitors more information on his life and work. The memorial slab is inscribed;-

POSITAE SVNT HIC RELIQUIAE VIRI ADMODUM NATHANIELIS HIGHMORE DOCTI IN SPEM RESURRECTIONIS AD VITAM EATERNAM QVI MARTIJ 21 ANNO DOMINI 1685 AETATIS SUAE 71

HERE LIE THE REMAINS OF A TRULY LEARNED MAN, NATHANIEL HIGHMORE, DOCTOR OF MEDICINE, WHO DIED, IN HOPE OF RESURRECTION TO LIFE ETERNAL, ON MARCH 21, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1685, AGED 71

Only one grave has been identified but, Nathaniel's widow, Elizabeth (d.1707), asked to be buried as near to her husband as possible - the blue stone slab is not the original monument but was installed in 1750 so it is possible that it covers a family grave.

The finely canopied tomb which separates the chancel from the manor Chantry Chapel is to William Longe (or Long), the lord of the manor, who died in 1524 and his wife. Their effigies would have lain on the bare slab of Purbeck marble but were probably destroyed by the austere Puritans during the Civil War or the years of the Commonwealth which followed.

An illuminated manuscript by the West Door of the Nave remembers the men of Purse Caundle who fell in the Second World War;-

A memorial just outside the entrance to the churchyard remembers those men of the village who fell in the Great War of 1914-1918.

In the churchyard, just outside the east window of the chancel, stands a small iron monument.

CHURCHWARDENS
THE ENGLISH PARISH
PARISH CHURCHES OF DORSET
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