This is claimed as the oldest recorded church in Westmorland. It is thought that the site could have originated as an Anglian monastery as early as the seventh century, although an Anglian cross shaft in the porch is the only tangible evidence.

St Peter's became a parish church in 1180 and the list of rectors runs from then. Whilst the south arcade of the nave is Norman, and the tower and north arcade are Victorian, most of the building dates from a rebuilding after a major fire in 1601.

It is a large church and some of the furnishings are to scale. The fourteenth-century door in the main porch is massive. It may be worth trying the smaller door opposite the lychgate to effect an easier entry!

On the north side, near the Levens Chapel, is a huge iron-bound parish chest, said to be the oldes (c. 1400) and larges in the county. There is much stained glass with good detail.

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