PETERSTOW is a parish and village situated on the old road from Ross to Hereford, nearly 3 miles W. of Ross, 10 N.N.E. of Monmouth, and 12 S.S.E. of Hereford; is in Wormelow hundred (lower division), Ross union, county court district, and polling district, and Harewood End petty sessional division. The population in 1861 was 276; in 1871, 356;[1] inhabited houses, 67; families or separate occupiers, 79; area of parish, 1,544 acres; annual rateable value, £3,408. The Governors of Guy's Hospital, London, are lords of the manor, and, with the Rev. Dr. Jebb and Charles Octavius Swinnerton Morgan, Esq., M.P., of The Friars, Newport, are the principal landowners. The soil is red loam; subsoil, clay and rock; chief crops, wheat, barley, roots, &c. Peterstow is in the diocese and archdeaconry, of Hereford and rural deanery of Archenfield; living, a rectory; value, £390, with residence and 20 acres of glebe; patron, W. Poynder, Esq.; rector, Rev. John Jebb, D.D., of Trinity College, Dublin, who was instituted in 1843, and is also canon residentiary and prebendary of Hereford cathedral. The patronage of the living was purchased in 1854 from the Governors of Guy's Hospital. The Rectory house was built by the present rector.

The church of St. Peter is a small and plain Norman edifice, consisting of a nave and chancel, with a 15th-century tower and spire, its most notable feature being the exceeding beauty of its proportions. It was completely restored in 1866, at a cost of about £1,200, under the superintendence of Mr. William Chick, architect, of Hereford, acting for Mr. (now Sir) George Gilbert Scott, R.A., the eminent church architect, who prepared the plans. The church has been seated with open oak seats and the chancel with carved stalls. An elegant decorated oak porch has been erected on the south side at the west end. A vestry has been added on the north side, with vault underneath, approached by external steps, for heating apparatus. An old angle pulpit, in good preservation, has been replaced, and is entered by steps from the vestry through an archway. The nave and chancel are paved with Godwin's encaustic tiles, the design in the chancel being chaste and effective. A very massive brass eagle lectern, manufactured by Thomason Co., of Birmingham, has been provided, and forms a very striking feature at the termination of the nave. The chancel ceiling is of polished oak panels, and the nave roof has been opened out and repaired. New altar rails, with twisted balusters, have been erected. Two painted windows were inserted in 1868; and two fine monumental crosses were discovered.

In every department the restoration seems to have been most careful and judicious. The cost was chiefly defrayed by the subscriptions of Dr. Jebb and his personal friends and parishioners, with the assistance of Church Building Societies, and a loan of £400 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The church was reopened for divine worship on July 3rd, 1866. A church on this site, perhaps some part of the very building recently restored, as we learn from the curious record called Liber Llandavensis, was consecrated prior to the reign of King Harold by the Bishop of Llandaff. It was then included in that diocese, and called by the Welsh name of Llanpeter. The earliest register is dated 1538. The church plate bears date 1571. There is a school for boys and girls, chiefly supported by the Rev. Dr. Jebb; average attendance, about 45. It has been recently enlarged at a cost of £200, of which £140 has been subscribed by the rector, the remainder by some of the parishioners and landowners. Some of the children of this parish attend the district school at Glewstone. The Wesleyans have a small chapel in the parish.