Church Of St Paul

The Church of St Paul is a parish church dating from 1905 to 1908, designed by R. Scrivener. It is constructed primarily of red sandstone, with rusticated coursing, and has tiled roofs. The church is in the Perpendicular style and comprises a west tower and spire, a nave with two aisles, and a chancel.

The tower has three stages with angle buttresses and decorative traceried bands, surmounted by an octagonal lantern with a parapet and a spire featuring two tiers of lucarnes. A doorway in the base of the tower is topped by an ogee arch and a niche containing a statue. The west wall of the nave features a large seven-light window above a canted bay with square-headed two-light windows. A projecting west porch connects to the south aisle. The aisles are relatively low with small, square-headed windows, and the clerestory is high with three-light traceried windows. Paired gables are visible on the south aisle chapel, and the chancel has a five-light east window.

The interior is simple and open to the specifications of the first incumbent. Narrow, low aisles form an ambulatory, with an arcade of three bays featuring wide four-centred arches. A decorative string course runs below the clerestory windows, with bays marked by shafts carried on angel corbels, which support cambered trusses and tie beams. Intermediate cambered trusses are also supported by higher corbels. The original brief stipulated chairs rather than pews, and these survive on a low dais. A simple, chamfered chancel arch has a hood mould. An altar piece from 1940 to 1945, created by the Wareham guild, adds an oak panelled surround with riddle posts capped by angels and painted details to the original traceried, panelled altar. Encaustic tiles are present in the chancel and nave, potentially made by Minton. The organ in the south chancel chapel was built by William Hill. The pulpit and lectern, originally from Saint Judes in Hanley (now demolished), were also designed by Scrivener. A western baptistery houses a small font on marble shafts with foliate capitals, dating back to 1899, and originating from the tin church previously located on the site. Stained glass is present in the 1918 east window.