Church Of St Paul

The Church of St Paul is an Anglican church built between 1872 and 1889 by John Colson, with subsequent work in 1902 and 1910 by his son, John B Colson. It is constructed of flint with freestone dressings, and has plain tile roofs. The church is designed in the Decorated style, with a wide nave, a chancel, north and south aisles, and transepts. A tower was originally planned but never built.

The exterior is asymmetrical, with three gables facing west. The main west gable has a four-light window with a wooden bellcote above, flanked by two- and three-light aisle windows. Further two-light north and south aisle windows and three-light transept windows are set within Geometrical tracery, and a large four-light east window has intersecting tracery. A lean-to vestry is located on the south side, and an organ chamber on the north side of the chancel. A gabled porch with a moulded two-centred arch is found on the west side of the south aisle. The gables have stone coping with apex crosses, and buttresses feature weathered set-offs and a string at window sill level.

Inside, the nave is wide with four-bay arcades featuring octagonal piers with moulded capitals and pointed arches; wider transept arches are without capitals. Open timber roofs include arch-braced elements on corbels in the nave and aisles, with king-posts in the nave. Transepts and chancel roofs have collar-rafters, with the chancel having an unceiled wagon roof. Furnishings consist of simple choir stalls, a brass altar rail and lectern, an 18th-century hexagonal pulpit with carved panels, and a moulded font with shafts to the stem.

A significant feature is the sgraffito mural decoration in the chancel, dating from 1904 and the work of George Heywood Sumner. This decoration consists of three large panels on the north and south walls, depicting the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Talents, with vine ornament borders which extends into panels flanking the east window. The sgraffito murals were plastered over in around 1962, but a section has been revealed on the south wall, with plans to restore the entire scheme.