Church of St Paul

Details

Church. 1848. Extended by J D Sedding in the 1880s in Perpendicular style.

MATERIALS: Dressed coursed local stone; granite dressings to west end, Polyphant stone to east end; scantle slate and dry Delabole slate roofs with coped gable ends.

PLAN: Six bay aisled nave, south porch at west end. Two bay chancel with organ chamber north of choir, chapel north of sanctuary, tower south of choir, vestry south of sanctuary, brick vaulted crypt underneath the east end.

EXTERIOR: Perpendicular style, used inventively for the Sedding work. Unaltered elevations: three-stage embattled tower with angle buttresses has corner statues of Sir Richard Grenville, Sir John Elliott and Bishop Trelawney; three niches (with two carved statues surviving of Christ and St George, St Paul has been removed) to second-stage. Six light tracery window over flat-headed basement window with four lights. Symmetrical east end has central projecting chancel with offset angle buttresses to embattled corner turrets flanking a large seven-light tracery window over a seven-light basement window; flanking organ chamber and chapel have moulded parapets, three-light windows with simple Perpendicular tracery and similar buttresses - also to returns with pairs of two-light windows, all with tracery and hoodmoulds, mid-floor and sill strings. Embattled south porch has round-arched doorway with empty niche over. North and south walls of six-bay aisles have three-light tracery windows. West end has five-light nave window and four-light window to south aisle.

INTERIOR: The interior is less dramatic. Tall six-bay aisles with granite piers with four-centred arches to the north side and round arches to the south side; two-bay arcades with engaged shafts and four-centred arches between choir and chancel and vestry and tower; round choir and chancel arches; waggon roofs in different designs with widely-spaced bosses to nave and north aisle; moulded ribs with square plaster panels to south aisle. The chancel ceiling has painted decoration with the motif IHS (Jesus) and gilt bosses. The stone flag floor to the nave includes multi-coloured tiled sections. St Clement's Chapel has a ceiling with moulded wooden beams and floral motif bosses. Flat coffered ceilings with moulded beams to the transepts and tower. At the west end there is a plain holy water stoup. To the nave are pitch pine pews with square traceried ends and panelled backs. Some pews have been removed in the east bay of the nave to accomodate an inserted granite platform nave altar. The organ has a highly decorated case which encloses a vestry. The rood screen was removed in 1968.

FIXTURES AND FITTINGS: The choir stalls with tracery carving are from the workshops of Robinson of London, and the screens between the choir and adjoining rooms with Perpendicular tracery and carved cornices were all installed in 1893. There is also a scheme of late 1880s stained glass by Laver, Barraud & Westlake which includes a seven light 'Te Deum' east window in memory of the Mayor of Truro, Sir Philip Protheroe Smith, who died in 1882. The stone font is octagonal with elongated quatrefoils to the bowl and niches with fleur de lys around the stem, stepped base and flat oak cover. It is believed that the stone pulpit to the south side beneath the tower arch came from St Clement's Church and is C15. The oak pulpit has blind ogee tracery and was given to the church in 1901 in memory of Lady Protheroe Smith.

HISTORY: William Mansell Tweedy, a local banker, paid for the building of St Paul's Church circa 1848 as an overflow church for the parish of St Clements. The architect for the original church is unknown but it consisted of a nave, chancel, south aisle and south porch. In 1864 the church was consecrated and acquired its own parish. In the early 1880s a major programme of extension was undertaken by J. D. Sedding. He replaced the single bay chancel with a much larger structure which included an organ chamber and a chapel, dedicated top St Clement, to the north and a chapel (now the vestry) and the tower to the south. The new work by J. D. Sedding was consecrated in 1884 by Bishop Wilkinson. In 1889 the north aisle, which was probably by Sedding, was completed and the church was re-opened on 27th June 1889. The battlemented tower was completed in 1910 by the architect's nephew E. H. Sedding.

There is a small derelict gabled hall (1905) with pointed windows to the west end of the church and a former Chapel of Rest (Grade II) on the opposite side of the road which is attributed to Sedding.

SOURCES: Dr Joseph Elders, Pastoral Measure Report: Truro, St Paul by Joseph Elders (2007); N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Cornwall (1989), 235; J. D. Cooper, 'The Work of John D. Sedding' in Edwardian Architecture and its Origins, A. Service (ed.), (175), 272-3; http://www.trurochurches.org.uk/stpaulshistory.htm accessed 3 October 2008; http://www.churchplansonline.com accessed 3 October 2008

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Church of St Paul is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * A good mid-C19 church with alterations and extensions by the notable architect J. D. Sedding * It retains some of J. D. Sedding's fixtures and fittings including choir stalls, pews, screens, painted roof to chancel and chapel, and a stained glass scheme by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake * Group value with the former Chapel of Rest which is attributed to Sedding and listed at Grade II

Listing NGR: SW8311745025

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

377607

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, (1970), 235
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cornwall, (1951), 235
Kelly's Directory in Kelly's Directory, ()

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