Church Of St Paul

Church of St Paul

A Classical church built between 1817 and 1820 to the designs of John Walters, with internal remodelling by William Butterfield in 1848 and further alterations to the east end in 1931 by W C Waymouth. The building replaced Shadwell's chapel of 1656 and the medieval parish church that stood on the site. It is constructed of stock brick with a limestone plinth, parts of the spire in limestone, and stucco dressings throughout.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, and a west tower with a circular upper stage flanked by vestibules. The principal façade, facing The Highway to the north, displays two tiers of six rectangular windows in the nave reflecting the internal presence of galleries. To the east of the nave stands a short, single-bay projection containing the chancel, lit by rectangular windows placed one above the other. The south side mirrors the north elevation. The east end features three equal-height round-arched windows, created during Butterfield's 1848 remodelling, with a tall rectangular doorway below them that was blocked at the same time. The chancel is articulated with stuccoed pilasters at its corners, on its east face, and at the angle between chancel and nave. The nave and chancel have tall plain parapets, parts finished in bare brick and others in stucco as originally intended.

The west end presents a stuccoed pedimented gable with four stuccoed pilasters, the central pair framing a large rectangular entrance approached by six steps. To either side are round-headed niches, with three recessed panels above recording the architect's name and date: "J. Walters Architect, Rebuilt Anno Domini MDCCCXX; J. Streather Builder". The most striking external feature is the spire, a significant local landmark. Its square base has diagonal projections carrying paired Corinthian angle columns with single round-arched belfry windows between them. Above these projections stand plinths topped with urns, surrounding a circular tempietto with Corinthian columns that supports an obelisk-stage top rising from a series of volutes.

The interior is defined by galleries running along the west, north, and south sides of the nave, supported on Tuscan timber columns and formerly decorated in colour though now plain. Much original seating survives behind the gallery fronts. A shallow saucer dome spans the nave, while the chancel features a narrower shallow curved ceiling with internal vestries at ground-floor level on either side. Staircases to either side of the tower lead to the galleries at the west end. The brick crypt has been converted into a community centre.

The organ occupies the centre of the west gallery and dates largely from the early 19th century, though it incorporates substantial components from 1714 and is one of the few surviving works of Abraham Jordan. Two benefaction boards mounted on the tower walls record gifts between 1711 and 1848. The font survives from the 17th-century church that previously occupied the site, featuring an octagonal bowl and stem. A window in the east end by John Hayward dates from 1964. Ground-level furnishings have been almost entirely removed in recent decades.

The churchyard contains several subsidiary features of note. Facing the west end stands the large imposing stock brick St Paul's Institute, originally a church school dating from the early to mid-19th century, with three storeys at the centre and predominantly round-arched windows. Between the churchyard and The Highway is an exceptionally fine early 19th-century iron railing incorporating, at the churchyard entrance, a pair of openwork square piers with curved lamp brackets springing from their tops, decorated with roundels. Further iron railings surround the entrance platform to the church, on which stand a good pair of cast-iron lamp standards. The churchyard is bounded to the east and south by a high brick wall, the latter separating it from the River Thames a few yards away. Plain table tombs, mostly with illegible inscriptions, stand to the east, south, and west of the church. A timber crucifix on a stone base serving as a First World War memorial stands in the north-east part of the churchyard.

Walters was an able architect capable of working in varied styles. The church cost £14,000 to rebuild and is the only surviving example of three east London churches he designed. His practice was based at Fenchurch Buildings, London, and he showed considerable interest in naval architecture alongside his ecclesiastical work. William Butterfield, called in during 1848, was establishing his reputation as a church architect and would go on to design major Gothic Revival buildings including All Saints, Margaret Street, and Keble College, Oxford. Butterfield's 1848 interventions included rearranging the interior, removing an eastern gallery, opening the tripartite east window, and constructing a wall across the east end of the nave with a central arch creating a separate sanctuary beyond. These features were removed in 1931 by W C Waymouth. War damage necessitated replacement of the nave ceiling in fibrous plaster, and the character of the building has been significantly altered by the near-total replacement of ground-level furnishings at the end of the 20th century.

The church has strong associations with maritime history and the Port of London. It is traditionally known as "the sea captains' church", with 75 ship's captains said to be buried in its churchyard. Captain Cook was an active parishioner who had his son baptised here. The present church replaced Shadwell's chapel, founded during the unusual circumstances of the Interregnum in 1656. Following a petition to Parliament in 1669, the chapel was granted its own parish in 1670, the first to be carved from the vast parish of St Dunstan, Stepney since Whitechapel in 1338.