Church Of St Paul

The Church of St Paul is a parish church dating to 1856-8, largely designed by J.A. Cory. The tower was subsequently developed between 1876 and 1880, with additional design contributions from C.H. Fowler and construction completed in 1890-99. Plans for the tower and steeple were submitted in 1881 and 1898, though these are no longer extant. A 1878 enlargement is recorded through a plaque in the north aisle. The church was repaired and restored in 1954 by S. Dykes Bower following a fire that destroyed the interior.

The building is constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and a Welsh slate roof featuring stone gable copings. It comprises a nave with a west tower, a south porch, a north aisle, a north-west choir vestry, and a chancel with a north vestry. The main entrance features strap hinges with fleur-de-lys finials, set within a triple-chamfered surround and a 2-centred arch. Side buttresses support a stone-coped gable, with a restored sundial in the gable peak. Blocked quatrefoils are present in the porch returns. The 3-bay nave has windows with cusped tracery in 2-light openings, set on a sill string interrupted by buttresses. The chancel has lancet windows, paired in the west bay, all incorporating dripmoulds. A large 3-light east window shares similar tracery and sill strings, and angle buttresses. The north aisle is similar to the nave, featuring a large 3-light west window. The flat-roofed north-west vestry has stone-mullioned 3-light windows and a Tudor-arched north door. The tower has three offsets, angle buttresses, a single west light in the first stage, smaller lights in the second stage, paired belfry openings with louvres, a corbel table, and a coped parapet, topped with a new swept pyramidal copper spire. The steeply pitched roofs have overlapping gable copings and stone cross finials; the aisle roof is slightly lower than the nave.

Internally, the church features painted plaster walls with ashlar dressings and a keeled ribbed boarded roof, with the chancel roof painted. A 3-bay arcade comprises wide double-chamfered 2-centred arches supported by octagonal piers and a double-hollow-chamfered chancel arch resting on shafted corbels. An elliptical-headed arch accommodates the organ on the north side. A 1954 door leads to the north vestry and a corresponding window is located above. Two tower piers, originally with quoins, support shafts that were once part of an arch, now obscured by the repositioned organ. The chancel roof is richly painted. Fragments of original glass remain in the light over the vestry door; the south chancel windows are post-1954 works by Goddard and Gibbs, bearing initials, and include glass by A.E.B. A font, featuring an octagonal stone pedestal and a swept cover, stands beside the door. Monuments include a plaque dedicated to Rosa Charlotte Duncomb Shafto with the inscription “‘a liberal donor … a zealous promoter of every good work’”. A South African War memorial plaque by H. Eagle and Co., Newcastle, lists those who “cheerfully responded” within specific regiments.