From its hilltop location overlooking the small village of Belton-in-Rutland, located about 4 mi W of Uppingham, St. Peter’s church is primarily of the 14^th – 16^th centuries. It consists of a chancel, nave with clerestory, W tower and S aisle and porch. A north aisle was allegedly destroyed by fire before the 14^th c. and not rebuilt. While most of the church is ironstone, the 14^th c W tower is of ashlar limestone. Victorian restoration in 1897-98 by W. Talbot Brown and Fisher of Wellingborough. Although the W bay of S aisle was rebuilt in the 16th c., the S aisle arcade is the earliest part of the church, dated c. 1190 - 1200.

Belton, or Belton-in-Rutland (as renamed in 1982) is unfortunately not found amongst the fifty Rutland locations named in DB. However in the Victoria County History it is suggested that in 1086 Belton was one of the seven unspecified berewicks mentioned in Domesday as belonging to the manor of nearby Ridlington with the land belonging to the king. The church is probably the same “chapel” of St. Peter in Belton which was in existence in the late 11^th c. which around 1120 was given as part of the endowment of Launde Priory (Leicestershire) by the founders Richard Basset, a royal judge and sheriff during the reign of King Henry I, and his wife Maude (see Dugdale). However, Edward the Confessor had already granted “Roteland” to his new foundation of Westminster Abbey before 1066, and in 1268 the advowson of Ridlington was owned by Westminster, which included the church at Belton.

The E respond has cut-away damage on the W face of capital and base. This may have been to accommodate a later screen across this first bay of the S arcade.

The heads on Piers 2 and 3 are integral to the stone block from which the capitals are carved and serve as the head stops for the second chamfered step in the aisle arches above. This suggests intelligent design planning on the part of the sculptors and builders. The extreme lack of details and mouths on each head stands out and gives a consistency of style --- the work of a single stone carver?