Church Of St Paulinus

Church of St Paulinus, St Paul's Cray

The Church of St Paulinus is a medieval parish church now redundant. The nave, north chapel and western part of the chancel date to the 11th century. A south aisle was added in the late 12th or early 13th century, and the north side of the nave preserves evidence for a former chapel of the early 12th century and a former north aisle of around 1200. The west tower dates to the late 12th or early 13th century. Some 15th-century windows survive, and the roof is partially of this date. The top of the tower was rebuilt in the 17th century. The church was extensively restored in 1859-61, and a south chapel was added in 1863.

The building is constructed of flint rubble with stone and brick dressings, with shingled spire and tiled roofs. The plan comprises a nave with south aisle and evidence for a former north aisle, chancel with north and south chapels, and a west tower.

Externally, the church is notable for clearly visible evidence of its medieval development. The north nave wall contains the remains of a small 11th-century window cut by the former north arcade, with the head turned in brick. Blocked pointed arches in the north nave wall mark the location of the former two-bay north aisle of around 1200. Fifteenth-century windows of two lights with square heads and two trefoiled lights are set into the blocking of these arches, with a small lancet to the east of the arcade. An early 12th-century blocked round arch in the west wall of the north chapel represents the remains of a former aisle or porticus chapel subsequently incorporated into the north aisle and then demolished. The northeast quoin of the north chapel is constructed of Roman tile, and the east gable has irregular stone banding and brick along the gable edges.

The northwest corner of the nave has a brick quoin, probably of the late 17th century and contemporary with those on the tower. The south aisle west window displays late 13th-century Geometric tracery, heavily or entirely renewed in the 19th century. The south windows, also mostly 19th-century, are in 15th-century style with two lights in square heads. The north chancel chapel has a 19th-century plate tracery window of two lights with a quatrefoil in the head. The 19th-century south chancel chapel has Early English-style windows. The chancel east window is 16th-century in style with a very depressed head of three uncusped lights.

The west tower is of two stages with a shingled broach spire. The lower part dates to around 1200, whilst the upper part was rebuilt or restored in the late 17th century. Seventeenth-century brick buttresses appear on the lower stage and 17th-century quoins on the upper stage, with a stone string course separating the two. The west door has a moulded arch with dogtooth ornament on nook shafts with foliate capitals. Above the west door is a window of uncertain date with a 19th-century plate tracery insert. Two small round openings appear in the lower part of the second stage. Narrow lancets are set in the north and south walls of the lower stage, and late 17th-century round-headed windows with brick dressings occupy the upper stage.

The interior is notable for the three-bay south arcade, which comprises two distinct parts, both with round piers and pointed arches. The eastern bay is late 12th-century and has a flattened roll on the soffit of the arch with lively capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and carved heads. The western two bays have a chamfer on the inner arch moulding and moulded capitals to the pier and west respond. The south chapel, added in 1863, connects to the aisle and chancel through arches with 19th-century Early English-style foliate capitals on polygonal responds; the Early English-style arch into the north chapel is similar. The two-bay former north arcade, still visible internally, was added around 1200 and resembled the western bays of the south arcade. It was set in the western part of the nave wall, presumably to accommodate the lost or covered opening to the former north chapel. The head of a blocked 11th-century window is visible above the former arcade at the east end. A narrow rood loft door opens internally above the east end of the south arcade. There is no chancel arch. The chancel south windows have hood moulds, and the remains of a triplet of lancets are visible in the east wall. The tower arch is also around 1200; above it is a two-light 15th-century style opening. The nave roof was damaged in a fire in 1968 but retains some late-medieval timber.

The principal historic fixture is a 13th-century coffin lid with a foliated cross in the south chapel, and one late 19th-century monument. No other historic fittings of note remain in the church.

The dedication to St Paulinus, a 7th-century bishop of Rochester, is rare. A church is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the present structure was built in the 11th century. In its original form it comprised a nave and short chancel with a north porticus chapel flanking the chancel. In the early 12th century a north nave chapel was added to the west end of the north chancel porticus, the arch into which is still visible externally. The eastern bay of the south aisle was added in the late 12th century and a few years later, around 1200, the remaining two bays of the south aisle were added. A two-bay north aisle, which incorporated or continued the north nave chapel, was added at this time, and the west tower is also late 12th or early 13th-century. The chancel was extended eastwards in the 13th century. The chancel arch was removed at an unknown, presumably medieval date, and the aisle windows were redone in the late 15th century; probably also at this time the south aisle was widened. The top of the tower was remodelled and buttresses added in the 17th century, and perhaps also at this time the north aisle was demolished, the arches blocked, and the former aisle windows reset in the blocking. The church was restored in 1859-61, and the south chapel was added in 1863. Further work followed a fire in 1968, during which a 13th-century stiff-leaf capital is said to have been found. The church became redundant in the late 1970s and has been stripped of its furnishings. The former font, a polygonal example of the 15th century, is now in St Martin, Chelsfield, and the good 19th-century lectern with a pelican in her piety is in St Mary, St Mary Cray.