Church Of St Paul

The Church of St Paul was constructed between 1776 and 1779 by Roger Eykyn, a Wolverhampton-based joiner, nurseryman, surveyor, and architect. It was designed as a simplified version of St Martin's-in-the-Fields, lacking a portico. Eykyn's initial plans for a steeple were never fully realized, with the belfry and spire added later in 1822-23 by Frances Goodwin. Samuel Wyatt was consulted on the original design, and likely made amendments.

The church has a rectangular plan with five bays on each side. The chancel simply extends the nave, while the west front is distinguished by the recessed porch/vestries on either side of the tower, with the central entrance bay slightly advanced and topped with a small pediment above a stepped plinth. The building is constructed of ashlar with rusticated quoins, a bracket course, and a blocking course. A hipped slate roof covers the structure. The windows are arranged in two tiers; the upper windows are tall and round-arched to the galleries, while the lower windows are shorter and segmental-arched, all set within Gibbs surrounds. A Venetian window is located on the east side. Gibbs surrounds also feature on the west door, with a cornice on consoles, and on the north and south porch/vesting doors, each with its own pediment.

Inside, galleries line three sides, supported by square piers that rise into Ionic columns, capped by sections of entablature that support the cross vaulting of the aisles and the elliptical band vault of the nave. The organ was relocated from the west gallery to the east bay of the north gallery. In 1785, Francis Eginton painted the east window, depicting three scenes from the life of St Paul, after designs by Benjamin West, and completed in 1791. The window’s architectural framework, including Ionic columns, pilasters, plasterwork, and a pediment, may be the work of Samuel Wyatt. The church retains late 18th-century fittings, including box pews, some of which are set into coved recesses. Several wall tablets were created by Williams Hollins, with a particularly elaborate south-east aisle window memorializing William Hollins, his family, and featuring a bust sculpted by his son, Peter Hollins, in 1843.

The steeple, added by Frances Goodwin in 1822-23 and built on the base of Eykyn’s tower, is in a Grecian style. It features an irregular octagonal belfry with recessed Ionic columns, a balustraded parapet, an octagonal lantern, and a slender stone spire. Classical decoration is applied to the spire as if to a normal wall, culminating in a carved finial. The church is situated within a spacious churchyard/square, which does not appear to be oriented along a main axis.