Church Of St Paul

The Church of St Paul is a parish church dating to 1791, with significant alterations and enlargements in 1837 and 1851, and a restoration in 1869 by Giles & Brookhouse. It is constructed of coursed squared gritstone with gritstone dressings, and has Welsh slate roofs with stone coped gables. The church comprises a west tower, nave, a large north aisle, a chancel, and a north vestry.

The west tower is of four stages, divided by chamfered stringcourses and with clasping buttresses to the west. The west elevation features two semi-circular headed lancets with hoodmoulds, a corresponding lancet above, and a small arrow slit above that. A stone staircase leads to a semi-circular headed doorway on the north side, with an arrow slit above. The south side has a similar doorway with stepped and roll mouldings, a hoodmould, a lancet above, and another arrow slit. Paired bell openings with nook shafts and cushion capitals are on all four sides, topped by a circular opening all enclosed within a semi-circular headed arch and a hoodmould. A battlemented parapet finishes the tower.

The south side of the nave has two windows of paired semi-circular headed lights with a circle above, set within a larger arch, and a smaller round-arched lancet to the right. The chancel south side contains two round-arched lancets with a continuous hoodmould, and clasping buttresses at the east end. The east window consists of three stepped round-arched lancets within a roll moulded super arch. The lean-to vestry has a 2-light chamfered mullion window. The large gabled north aisle is approximately the same size as the nave. Its east window mirrors the main east window, but lacks mouldings. A round-arched doorway with a plank door is on the north side, and to the right, a broad gabled projection is the surviving element of the original 1791 building, containing one round-arched keyed window. The west window is similar to the aisle east window.

Inside, the north arcade has three round arches, circular piers, and abaci, with open trefoils in the spandrels. The nave has a boarded ceiling with exposed trusses featuring trefoil motifs, and a similar roof is found in the north aisle. A stone font has a square bowl with incised motifs, on a circular base. Monuments include a gothic aedicule in the north aisle to John Tempest, who died in 1863, designed by J B Robinson of Derby, and a tablet to William Tempest, who died in 1842, by N Coulson on the south wall. A north gallery is supported by two iron columns, and round-arched panels with painted commandments are positioned either side of the aisle’s west window.