Church Of St Paul

Church of St Paul

The Church of St Paul on Hills Road is a listed building of considerable historical and architectural significance, reflecting the evolving tastes and practices of 19th-century church design and construction.

The original church was built in 1841 as a chapel of ease, designed by Ambrose Poynter (1796-1886), a pupil of John Nash who established a long and varied career as a church architect. The building cost £5,766, funded by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It became an independent parish a few years later. An aisle chancel and north vestry were added in 1864, possibly designed by H G Elborne. North and south transepts were added to the eastern two bays of the nave in 1893 to designs by Temple Moore, at which time the galleries were removed. The interior was fundamentally converted to a multi-use space in 1996.

The church is constructed in red brick with blue brick diapering, stone dressings, and slate roofs. It is planned as an aisled nave and chancel with transepts and a liturgical west tower.

The exterior was originally conceived as a brick interpretation of St Mary the Great in Cambridge's Market Place. The design was sharply criticised in the first issue of the Ecclesiologist by the Camden Society in November 1841 for its lack of a chancel, its use of brick instead of stone, and its unornamented late 16th or early 17th century style. The building is dominated by a tall west tower with prominent clock faces and polygonal angle turrets picked out in pale freestone. It is embattled throughout and features transomed windows in a Tudor Gothic style. The Temple Moore transepts echo this architectural language.

The 1996 conversion reversed the original liturgical orientation, with what was the chancel and transepts now serving as the nave and the sanctuary recessed beneath an inserted floor in the former nave. The former nave is now subdivided, with its arcades of 1841 partially closed at the former liturgical west end. Both the chancel and nave arcades are notably tall. The former chancel arcades are unpainted stone; the rest of the building is plastered and painted.

The interior retains several fixtures of note. There is 19th-century panelling in 17th-century style along the former east wall, and simple 17th-century-style screens in the former chancel arcades, probably contemporary with the original 1841 building. A good 19th-century organ case and a 19th-century octagonal timber pulpit with traceried panels are present. The church contains good 19th and early 20th-century stained glass, including a fine window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne for Bessie Jones (died 1904) which includes a copy of Holman Hunt's 'The Light of the World'.

The 1996 conversion reduced the worship space to approximately half its original size and converted the remainder to multi-use spaces. Despite this reordering and change, the interior retains spatial interest and visual character.