St Peter
Maidenhead, Berkshire
An attractive, thriving, late Victorian church, with a modern attached church centre.
Holy Trinity, Cookham, is nestled in the east side of the village, a place famous for being the birthplace and residence of the British painter Stanley Spencer. The churchyard is the setting for his famous painting 'The Resurrection', an eerie, dreamlike scene in which figures can be seen emerging from their graves. He was sitting in this Berkshire church when he heard the sound of the swan uppers at work on the river, and was inspired to create his painting 'Swan Upping at Cookham'. It now hangs in the Tate.
Inside the church there are many interesting features including a Purbeck marble table tomb with a vaulted canopy in the chancel, supported by twisted columns, marking the death of Robert Peeke, clerk of the spicery to Henry VI, and his wife who died in 1517.