Church of St Paul

Church of St Paul

An Anglican church built between 1829 and 1831 by architect John Forbes, with significant later additions and alterations. The building is constructed of pinkish-brown brick laid in English Garden Wall Bond, with ashlar facing and dressings, particularly to the south front. The roof is pitched and concealed, covered with lead sheeting. The windows throughout are multi-paned with leaded lights.

The church follows a rectangular plan with a galleried nave, chancel, tower, and vestry. A north chapel was added in 1917 when the vestry was enlarged, designed by L W Barnard of Cheltenham. Further late twentieth-century additions were made to the north side and north-west corner.

The exterior exemplifies Greek Revival style, with details derived from the Temple at Ilissus. The south front, which comprises three bays, features a continuous entablature and a tall parapet with copings. Sill bands and tooled architraves frame the openings. The outer bays are articulated by end pilasters with square-headed windows on each storey. The central bay projects forward and is crowned with a pedimented tetrastyle Ionic portico; steps lead to a pair of panelled entrance doors set within a tooled architrave, with a similarly framed window above. A tall pilastered clock tower, surmounted by a cupola with finial, rises from the main elevation and carries an entablature. The returns on the west and east are divided into seven bays by pilasters that interrupt the sill bands. Windows of square and rectangular form with tooled architraves light two storeys, and a crowning entablature runs along the top. Entrances in the first bays feature double four-panel doors. The liturgical north end (the actual geographical east) projects forward at its centre and is divided into bays by pilasters, with a continuous entablature.

The interior is dominated by large galleries with Georgian mouldings and panelled balustrades supported on slender cast-iron columns. The flat ceiling spans the entire width and is decorated with elegant five-light wrought-iron chandeliers at balcony level and single lights to the galleries. A segmental panelled arch separates the shallow sanctuary. Extensive panelling by W E Ellery Anderson, completed between 1932 and 1936 in memory of Rector T H Cave-Moyle (1904-27), decorates much of the east end and incorporates a screen of 1917 by L W Barnard. The east window of 1906, probably by J Eadie Reid, depicts the Ascension with flanking painted panels. The north chapel contains timber panelling, rails, and a panelled ceiling installed in 1932, also in memory of Rector Cave-Moyle.

Fittings include a moveable wrought-iron pulpit of 1904-5 mounted on runners that can be pulled forward to the centre of the sanctuary arch, a circular stone and marble font dated 1863, and an organ of 1831 by John Gray of London. Stained glass includes the Ascension window in the east of 1906, probably by J Eadie Reid, and a north chapel window by Edward Payne, dated 1962. In 1906, the east window was installed. The vestry was enlarged and the north chapel formed in 1917 by L W Barnard. The north chapel underwent refurbishment in 1932 by R L Boulton & Sons of Cheltenham.