Church Of St Paul

The Church of St Paul is a chapel of ease, later becoming a church, built in 1812 with exterior work by John Rebecca of Worthing and interior work by Charles Hide. It was extended and altered in 1893. The exterior is constructed of yellow stock brick in Flemish bond with ashlar dressings. The east end is stuccoed and scored to resemble ashlar. The building is two storeys and has three bays by six bays. The east end features a three-bay, pedimented Tuscan portico on a three-step podium with attached pilasters to the gable wall. A blocked central entry is now a window, with side doors featuring panelled double doors and fanlights with decorative glazing bars. A plat band is positioned above the doors, with a segmental pediment over the central door and three recesses above. A tall, flat-coped parapet runs along the body of the church, with a central cupola at the east end, set on a stepped podium with a Greek-key frieze and ball finial. Returns are marked by an east bay treated as the front, with a curved-backed rectangular recess to the ground floor and a 24-pane sash window in an eared architrave above. The remainder of the building features two-light, segmental-arched mulioned windows to the ground floor and round-arched windows above, all with gauged brick arches, stone inner surrounds, and cills. An ashlar cill band is present on the first floor. A set of steps leads to a door in a projecting, flat-roofed porch on the south side’s left end; further to the left is a tall, one-storey addition with two windows. The north side is marked by an attached church hall built in 1964. Internally, a classical-style chancel was added at the west end, featuring columns, attached pilasters, a moulded cornice, a keyed arch with a panelled soffit, a panelled vault, a tessellated floor, and alabaster and marble facings from 1912. The main body of the church has a coffered ceiling with panelled beams. Columns support side galleries with panelled and balustraded fronts and original pews; an organ gallery is located at the east end, displaying a royal coat of arms. A decorative mid-19th century wooden pulpit and choir stalls are also present. The font, originally from Chichester Cathedral, features a 15th-century octagonal polished stone bowl. The chapel of ease was established to serve Worthing, which at the time was part of the parish of Broadwater. The church incorporates stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops.