The small village of Tickencote lies just to the W of the great N/S Roman route from London up to Yorkshire, Ermine Street; the proximity to this route may account for the sculptural grandeur of the church of St. Peter here. The church consists of a nave, chancel, S doorway with tower above at the E end of the nave, and directly across from it a N vestry with an elevation that goes to the height of the roof. All of this was rebuilt in 1792 by Samuel Pepys Cockerell in a Neo-Romanesque style under the patronage of Miss Eliza Wingfield, holder of the manor. In 1875 another restoration added Romanesque features to the nave doorways into the vestry and the S porch. From the 12^th c., the magnificent, massive chancel arch and the baptismal font are preserved.

Tickencote is listed in Domesday Book as part of the land owned by Countess Judith, but no church is mentioned in 1086. However, at this time a Grimbald held 3 hides from the Countess and he passed this on to his son, Robert Grimbald. Sometime before 1166 Robert Grimbald founded a priory of Austin canons at Owston in Leicestershire and gifted to them the church of Tickencote. This gift was confirmed by Robert de Chesney, bishop of Lincoln from 1148-1166. This is the earliest mention of the church here.

The imposts of the chancel arch are a continuation of the same design as the window level string course that runs around the rebuilt chancel of 1792 and look to be insertions into the chancel arch.

Pevsner puts the date of the font at 1200 and Bond too places it in the Transitional period of the early 13^th c. when Romanesque designs continued into the early Gothic period. Bond, however, treats the base as belonging with the tub when, in fact, the design and carving of the base is clearly different from the tub. The good surface condition of the base argues for it being later than the tub.

Given that the church belonged to the Austin canons at Owston, the cowled heads on baptismal font may be a reflection of the habits worn by the canons.