"The church of ST. PETER consists of chancel, clerestoried nave, north and south aisles, west tower, south porch, and, on the north side of the chancel, a 19th-century vestry and organ chamber. The walls of the chancel and aisles are of limestone rubble and date largely from the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The tower and clerestory, which, with the nave arcades, are work of the 15th century, are faced with limestone ashlar. The church must have been unusually lofty, even before the 15th-century additions, and the tower, although it has no spire, is tall enough to dominate the surrounding landscape.
Two stones with a running lozenge pattern which have been re-used externally at the east end of the north aisle are probably survivals from the Norman church. The same may be true of the relief carving of a standing figure, now set in the wall of the vestry passage. A great rebuilding of the church appears to have started shortly before 1300. A small recess with shafted jambs on the external north wall of the chancel is of the late 13th century. This might have belonged to a former north chapel, subsequently demolished. The much-restored window at the west end of the south aisle appears to have 13thcentury plate tracery, while the north windows in the opposite aisle, with bar tracery and identical moulded rear arches, are also of late-13th-century type. In each aisle there is a tomb recess with a crocketted canopy and it seems possible that these were built for the Latimer brothers (d. 1282 and 1304), joint holders of the advowson. Other windows in the south aisle and in the chancel have flowing tracery of the early 14th century. The chancel windows are unusually tall for their width; the walls have been heightened from the springing level of the window-heads upwards and it almost looks as though the heads themselves may have been raised. The sedilia and piscina in the chancel have cusped ogee heads of c. 1320. The south doorway and porch also date from the early 14th century. Another feature of this period is a large bracket on the east wall of the north aisle which rests on carved corbel heads. A rood-loft stair at the south-east corner of this aisle is contained in a semi-octagonal turret which projects externally. A bracket for the rood remains on the south side of the chancel arch.
The church was much altered in the 15th century when new nave arcades were built, the clerestory was added, and Perpendicular windows were inserted at the east end of the south aisle and at both ends of the north aisle. The tall arcades are of four bays and have composite piers, similar in section to those at Market Harborough. The tower and chancel arches are apparently contemporary with the arcades. The massive west tower, built at this period, rises in four stages to an embattled parapet and has clasping buttresses at the angles. There is a large west doorway with a tall Perpendicular window above it; the belfry stage has two-light openings with transoms.
The present fittings of the church date from a restoration of 1865–6, carried out by Goddards of Leicester at a cost of c. £3,000, which was largely provided from the funds of the Hanbury charity. The pulpit, desk, gallery, pewing, altar rail, and table were removed, and the present furniture installed. The octagonal mausoleum, erected by the Revd. William Hanbury (d. 1778) in the south-east part of the churchyard as a burial place for his family, was taken down, and its coffins were removed to a brick vault under the new vestry and organ chamber which was then being built on the north side of the chancel.) The nave roof was rebuilt and the whole fabric thoroughly repaired. The pews and pulpit which were then installed carry elaborate carvings by Barfield of Leicester.
There was no font at the time of the bishop's visitation in 1662. The present font, which retains its original wooden canopy cover, bears the inscription 'T.C.—W.C.—1662', and was mounted on its stand at the west end of the south aisle in 1865–6. The organ (1759), by William Adcock of London, was out of repair for many years before 1865. It was then placed in its present position, rebuilt in 1937, and completed in 1944. The reredos in the chancel, which is an alabaster representation of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, was completed in 1892. The oak rood screen across the chancel arch was presented in 1895 by Capt. W. P. Warner of West Langton Hall in memory of his father, Edward Warner (d. 1894). Capt. Warner, just before his own death in 1911, gave money for a clock in the tower. A late-17th-century wooden offertory box retains its original iron fittings.
There are many memorial tablets. In the chancel, on the north side to the west of the organ, there is a slate tablet to Thomas Staveley (d. 1631) of West Langton Hall, and, on the south side, a tablet to Samuel Hill (d. 1639), Rector of Medbourne and Church Langton and Prebendary of Chichester. A painted hatchment board to the memory of Anne Brooke (1603–32), daughter of Sir Calistene Brooke, hangs behind the choir stalls on the south side. Thomas Hanbury (d. 1899) in 1896 placed an alabaster medallion representing his great-grandfather, William Hanbury (d. 1778), above the door on the north side of the chancel leading into the vestry. The stained glass in the chancel windows was inserted in memory of other members of the Hanbury family. The canopied tomb recess in the south aisle contains the recumbent effigy of Sir Richard Roberts (d. 1644), the father of Thomas Roberts of Thorpe Langton; that in the north aisle is empty. On the wall of the north aisle are various plaques to members of the Ord family of West Langton Hall.
The custom of allotting the aisles of the mother church to the two daughter chapelries was maintained in the 19th century. Tur Langton was responsible for the repair of the north aisle, Thorpe Langton for the south aisle. They were also responsible for allotted sections of the churchyard fence.
There were 5 bells until 1763 when the Revd. William Hanbury (d. 1778) added another 3: (i) and (ii) 1762; (iii) 1763, by Joseph Eayre of St. Neots; (iv) and (v) 1676, by Thomas Norris; (vi) n.d.; (vii) n.d., by Thomas Eayre of Kettering; (viii) 1741, also by Thomas Eayre. The plate includes a silver cup and paten dated c. 1575, and a silver cup, paten, and flagon given in 1874 by Jemima Elizabeth Ord (d. 1876). The registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials date from 1653, with a gap from 1684 to 1687; there are separate registers for East Langton from 1794, and for West Langton from 1813."
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