St Peter's is located on the S side of the city centre, and took its name from the gowt, or ditch located immediately S of the church. It has an 11thc. nave and W tower, and a S aisle was added in the 13thc. The N aisle and S porch were built by 1852-3 by W.A. Nicholson in 1852-53, and the chancel was replaced in 1887-88 by C.H. Fowler. Construction is of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings. The only Romanesque feature described here is the font.

The church was first recorded in 1147-8 as belonging to the bishop.

A drawing of the church from the SW was made by Grimm in 1784. The 11thc tower predates the Conquest and belongs to a group of tall, unbuttressed Lincolnshire towers from this period which also includes St Mary-le-Wigford, Lincoln (see Stocker and Everson (2006)).

Arcaded fonts are extremely common in Lincolnshire and this one is unusually plain and roughly carved, although attempts have been made to indicate bulbous, cushion and scallop capitals. It is suggested that this may date from c.1100.