Parish Church of St Paul

Details

MORTON

421/3/10005 FRONT STREET 12-MAY-77 MORTON (South side) PARISH CHURCH OF ST PAUL

II* Anglican church in village, N side to the road. 1890-1891 to the designs of J T Micklethwaite and Somers Clarke, in a free mixture of Decorated and Perpendicular styles; cost £11,000. The 1890-91 building incorporates the tower of the church consecrated in 1846, which appears to have been re-faced. The width of the 1840s church determined the width of the width of the nave (information from the churchwardens). Rock-faced snecked masonry with ashlar dressings and slate roofs; red clay ridge tiles. The interior walls are brick construction (information from the churchwardens. Plan of nave, chancel and N and S aisles extending to the W wall of the W tower; NE transept and transeptal organ chamber; SE transeptal chapel; SE vestry.

EXTERIOR: Rainwater goods dated 1890. The chancel has angle buttresses and a high-set E window with Perpendicular tracery. On the N side there is a high-set 4-light square-headed window. The buttressed aisles have embattled parapets and diagonal buttresses and 2 and 3-light square-headed windows with trefoil-headed lights. The W ends of the aisles have moulded W end doorways to shallow porches with statues niches over. The NE organ chamber has a quatrefoil window in the gable, the N transept is deeper with a 3-light N window with reticulated tracery. On the SE side the SE transeptal chapel, dedicated to St Hugh, has diagonal buttresses and a 3-light window with reticulated tracery; the E bay of the chapel is contained in a low-roofed block with a parapet, gabled to the E. The SE vestry projects to the S with a shallow gabled roof with a parapet, 3- and 4-light square-headed windows and a stack with a tall octagonal stone shaft against the chancel wall. The W tower has diagonal buttresses which rise as corner pinnacles with crocketted finials, an embattled parapet, chamfered W doorway and a 2-light Decorated style W window and similar belfry windows. 1890s doors to the aisles and tower have ornamental ironwork.

INTERIOR: Painted and plastered. Notable for a very complete set of high quality 1890s fittings, may designed by Micklethwaite and Somers Clarke, and original painted decoration to the roofs and organ case. 4-bay N and s arcades with octagonal piers with double-chamfered arches, the responds to easternmost piers are decorated with shafts and represent the E end of the 1846 church; taller arches to the transepts. Woodblock and stone slab floor. Moulded chancel arch. Timber barrel nave roof with coving, divided into panels by moulded ribs with an original 1890s scheme of delicate painted decoration of cream red and green including texts at the W and E ends. The aisle roofs are flat and divided into panels by moulded ribs. The chancel has a canted coved roof, also preserving its original 1890s decoration. The SE chapel, dedicated to St Hugh, has a flat ceiling divided into panels by moulded ribs, the panels painted with swans and mitres. There is a statue of St Hugh in a niche on the E wall. The tower has a crank-headed arched opening to a gallery with a central doorway below. Fine 9-bay timber chancel screen with ogee openings and integral rood figures. Timber parclose screens to the organ chamber and chapel of St Hugh; the chapel has an iron screen with fleur de lis cresting across its W opening. S side sedilia, and aumbrey and piscina recess under ogee arches with bold cusping. Textile hanging behind the high altar thought to be original, as are the textiles associated with the S wall sedilia and a William Morris designed carpet in the chancel. Choir stalls with poppyhead ends. Very fine, large black Frosterly marble font with an octagonal bowl on an octagonal stem and a tall buttressed timber font cover with original suspension mechanism, the cover decorated with timber statues. Polygonal timber pulpit, the sides decorated with blind tracery. Painted decoration to the organ case. Nave benches with square-headed ends with sunk panels. Original light fittings adapted for electricity with 4-way brass brackets. Stained glass windows include one by Clayton and Bell in the tower with, 1870s memorial date, and a series of 8 windows by Burne Jones for the Morris Company dating from 1891 to 1914. Some surviving radiators are probably original.

Historical Note: The 1890-1891 building campaign was largely financed by Sir Hickman Bacon, Bart. The church guide records the painters of the individual windows from original Morris and Co documentation.

A church outstanding for the quality and completeness of its late C19 fittings and stained glass by the Morris Company installed from 1891-1914.

Sources
Darley, A G, St Paul's Morton: A Short History of the Church and a description of the William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones windows, 2001 edn.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

196299

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LBS

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