St. Peter's Church of Ireland is built on a site which has been a centre of worship at least since the founding of the town of Drogheda itself. The earliest archaeological feature of Drogheda is the Millmount motte, probably established by the Norman knight Hugh de Lacy before 1186. St. Peter's church was established on the north side of the River Boyne also before 1186 and was given by de Lacy to the Augustinian canons of Llanthony Prima in Monmouthshire, Wales (The Topography and Layout of Medieval Drogheda by John Bradley, published by the Old Drogheda Society, 1997)
The medieval church was evidently a very large building. It contained six chapels - St. Anne's (the principal one, which at the time supported two chaplains), St. Martin's, St. Patrick's, St. Peter's, St John the Baptist's, St. George's. Although there may have been a Celtic Church here in earlier times, the dedication to St. Peter suggests that it was an Anglo-Norman foundation as Celtic Churches were not usually dedicated to Biblical Saints. The first church on the site was probably built about the same time as Mellifont Abbey, as the remains of some of the original tiles and mouldings found on the site are similar to those found at Mellifont.
The Church of St. Peter's was an important ecclesiastical centre, being used as a Pro-Cathedral for Armagh Diocese for several centuries. The Primates of Ireland of the time lived either in Termonfeckin, Dromiskin or Drogheda, and very seldom visited the Northern part of the Diocese because of the unsettled state of the country. Synods of the Diocese were constantly held in St. Peter's up to 1559, and many consecrations of Bishops and ordinations were held there. It is also the burial place of several Primates: John Colton (d. 1404), Nicholas Fleming (d. 1416), John Swayne (d. after 1450), Octavian de Spinellis (de Palatio) (d. 1513), Thomas Lancaster (d. 1584), John Long (d. 1589), Henry Ussher (d. 1613), Christopher Hampton (d. 1625).
There is no mention of a clergyman of the Church in early authorities before 1206. In Patent Roll 32 of Edward III, one 'Robert' is referred to as "Chaplain" of Drogheda in that year. (Armagh Clergy and Parishes, Rev. J.B. Leslie, published by William Tempest, Dundalk 1911) Leslie goes on to say that a fragment of sandstone moulding, discovered during grave digging in the churchyard, marks the church or a portion of it as being in the Early English style. On display in the church is a beautiful copper medallion, enamelled and gilt, probably from the cover of a reliquary or a Gospel Book. On it, the figure of Christ or one of the Apostles is exquisitely etched in an attitude of teaching - His left hand holds a book, His right is raised in benediction. Leslie surmises that it is probably Limoges work of the 12th or 13th century.
During the Siege of Drogheda in 1649 Cromwell's Parliamentary forces burned the steeple of the church in which about 100 people had taken refuge. Perhaps appalled at this act of savagery and desecration, and other such atrocities committed during his campaign in Ireland, Cromwell's army donated £10,000 for the repairs of St. Patrick's, Armagh, St. Patrick's, Dublin, and St. Peter's, Drogheda
The Prior and Convent of Llanthony were the Rectors or owners of the Rectorial Tithes and Advowson of the Vicarage of the church. At the dissolution of the monasteries, the English Crown took possession of the Rectorship and granted it to Sir Garrett Moore, ancestor of the Earls of Drogheda on 23rd April 1605 (Patent Rolls as quoted in Leslie). The Moores held the advowson (the right to appointment the clergyman of the parish) until the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1870.
Although St. Peter's parish covered the North Side of the town of Drogheda, according to the custom of the day the seating within the church was restricted to those who had paid the appropriate "pew rent". To accommodate those who could not obtain sittings in the parish church, a Chapel-of-Ease, dedicated to St. Mark, was built in 1828 at a cost of £1,918.18s 7 1/2d. The Corporation gave £276 18s 5 1/2d towards its erection, the Primate £100, private subscriptions £642 2s 0d, and the Board of First Fruits (a body established to give grants for new church building) £900. After the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1870 the church was no longer needed and was sold as a Temperance Hall. It eventually became a cinema.
The present interior of the Church is largely the result of a major reordering in the late 19th century. The original box pews (shown in a painting of the church by Bernard Tumalti (or Tumalty) dated 1844) were removed and the present rows of pews installed in their place. The sanctuary area was reordered in 1907 and the present pulpit and prayer desk installed circa 1909.