The vase font is near the western entrance. The organ is in the west gallery. Some stained glass of good design fills some of the aisle-windows. The passages are paved, with ornamental tiles, the pewing has been cut down, and would be greatly improved raised four or five inches above the level of the passage-paving. The church is thoroughly and expensively heated with warm air, and lighted at night by a sun-burner from the roof, containing 120 jets. Every attention appears to have been paid to ensure the comfort of the congregation. The most marked feature of St. Peter’s Church is its interior, which, as a whole, is very beautiful. The style is worked out in Pompeian red, and, although florid in development, is by no means obtrusive; and from the general harmonies of colour and subdued blendings, it is thought to conduce to a feeling of devotional repose. The galleries, however, constitute a great drawback to this otherwise very pleasing interior. They are too flat in construction, and too ponderous for the limited space between the roof and the floor of the side aisles.
This church is one of six now gathered round the original church of St. John’s, Notting-hill, and is allocated to one of the six new parishes into which the old parish has been subdivided. It was built in the year 1856, with funds furnished partly by the incumbent and partly by donations from the immediate neighbourhood. It has sittings for 1,400 persons, out of which 400 are free. There are, in connexion with it, large and exceedingly well appointed schools, numbering 150 boys, 150 girls and 220 infants. The efficiency of these schools has been authoritatively commended.
The present vicar, the Rev. J. Robbins, D.D., of Christ Church, Oxford, was appointed in the year 1862. We had not the opportunity of hearing the rev. gentleman preach, but he read the first lesson, and we consider him quite a model reader. From a firm, distinct, and flexible utterance, and as from a ready appreciation of its sense, Scripture is made to speak its meaning, and to convey real effect in the reading. The general order of service he has adopted is semi-choral. The prayers are monotoned, the chants and responses are Gregorian. The choir is mostly composed of boys, with surplices, educated in the schools attached to the church, and who sing the music about as well as such music can be done. The Creed is, also, in reality, sung and accompanied with the organ. We must confess to a disappointment in the effect produced by the organ, the tones of which did not seem to harmonise with the flow of voices; but we hear this is about to be remedied. To many there would doubtless seem in this service an excess of singing, and that, monotonous in a large degree. But it is the High Church order of things; and St. Peter’s is confessedly High Church. There are various societies attached for the visitation of the poor and the distribution of several charities.