Details
TL 1922 ST PAUL'S WALDEN ST PAULS WALDEN
11/176 Church of All Saints
27.5.68
GV I
Parish church. Probably C12 or C13 walling, tower on different axis to
nave; window in S aisle c.1300; early C14 S arcade, N windows to nave, S
porch altered, chancel arch, and details in lower part of tower; C15
upper stage to tower, clearstorey windows and embattled parapets; early
C16 S chapel (Hoo or Lady Chapel), chancel remodelled 1727 for
Edward Gilbert of the Bury, restored 1891-5 by Bodley and Garner
(contractor Rattee and Kett of Cambridge) and completed and NE vestry
added 1901 (Kelly (1914)231), E window opened 1946, chancel colour
scheme 1972 by Raymond Erith, church rooms in churchyard linked to N
door 1973-4 by Priestman, Williams & Bennett. Flint rubble with coursed
flint facing and stone dressings, E end and S chapel plastered. Steep
red tile roof to chancel, slate roof to nave hipped to E, flatter
pitched metal roofs behind parapets elsewhere. Pyramid slate roof to
church rooms with deep rendered fascia, band of windows and blue brick
base buried in ground. Church with chancel and S chapel, higher nave
with windows at 2 levels in N side. S aisle, gabled S porch, and heavy
buttressed W tower. Small NE vestry with gabled corner buttresses.
Chancel has 2 round-headed small N windows which were its only lighting
until 1946. A 3-bays plaster-vaulted interior with stone floor with
black dots. Barrel vault with panelled central ridge, coffered arches on
panelled pilasters with moulded impost. Fielded panels to lower parts of
walls with windows in end bays on N with paterae and garlands in
spandrels. Elaborate memorial plaster panel and eared surround in middle
on S with oval centre, relief urn with putti and 'EG ob 1762' on urn.
Painted inscription on back of centrepiece of screen records
'THIS/Chancel was First/Repair'd & Beautifi'd/by EDWARD GILBERT/ESQ of
the Bury/in the Year of our Lord 1727.' Central panel on N wall has
armorial centre and door to vestry discretely inserted below. Elaborate
carved wooden reredos fills E wall with fluted Corinthian pilasters and
arched centre in triumphal arch motif. Segmental pediments to 3 parts
and finials rising above, with putti supporting the ends of the
pediments. Lamb and flag central panel behind altar. Central round-
headed panel now a stained glass memorial window of Crucifixion by
Hugh Easton 1946. Elegant stone altar 1957 on 2 stone pedestals.
Elaborate carved wooden screen under chancel arch altered to profile of
chancel vault. Triple arched with higher and wider central opening. 4
slender Corinthian columns with separate pieces of entablature raised on
a high panelled plinth with central wrought iron gate. Stepped top above
arches has pairs of putti supporting urns with scrolled candelabra and
finials. Ogee curved upper feature similar. Tall rectangular nave has
5-bays S arcade c.1320 on octagonal piers with moulded caps and bases,
2-centred arches of 2 chamfered orders, and hoodmould with heads. 3
ogee-pointed Dec windows in N wall also c.1320 each of 2 trefoil lights
with tracery and deep reveals. Pointed N door with segmental rear arch
contemporary. 3 clearstorey C15 windows in N and S walls of 2 cinquefoil
lights. Narrow upper door for roodloft to right of chancel arch. Carved
wooden pulpit in early C18 style at SE after 1908. Flat boarded painted
ceiling divided by a grid of painted battens, with coved cornice along
side walls and 5 corbels on E wall with painted Latin inscription below.
Decoration by Bodley and Garner. The tall tower arch of 2 moulded orders
with half-octagonal responds, moulded caps and bases. Wooden gallery
1897, high up at W. Fine lettering to black marble armorial slabs along
central aisle. S aisle has 5-bays open timber roof and raised plinth
3-steps higher at W end with stone C15 font. Octagonal embattled bowl
with band of leaf carving, octagonal panelled shaft and moulded base.
Oak cover with openwork ogee finial. Adjoining S window of 3 trefoil
lights, Kentish tracery, moulded rear arch and label c.1300. Plain C14
doorway to E and 2 C15 3-lights windows with cinquefoil lights under
segmental heads. Blocked window in W wall similar with tracery of head
exposed externally. In NW angle a narrow 4-centred doorway to tower
stair. Large chest tomb in SW angle with polished black marble panels,
recessed baluster corners with reeded band, and inscription at N to
Peter Nicol d.1798. Varied stone corbels, one a gargoyle, supporting
inner end of trusses with wheel-tracery in spandrels at N. Moulded
purlin and wallplates. S chapel has similar painted boarded ceiling to
nave, E window of 4 cinquefoil lights under square head, 3 S windows of
3-lights with square heads, and small 4-centred S doorway. 3-bays stone
arcade on N has 4-centred arches blocked at mid depth of wall, capitals,
hexagonal piers with bases cut in the upper parts into half-octagonal
shafts with hollow fillet between. Arch to S aisle of similar detail.
Many black marble armorial slabs in floor. Recessed into W wall to left
of arch a wall monument to Henry Stapleford d.1631 and his wife d.1620.
Kneeling figures facing across a desk, child behind wife. Open
triangular pediment on black marble pilasters and inscribed panel below.
Discreet white and black marble wall monument to Hon George Bowes
d.1806. Simple oak screen at entrance. C15 with panelled lower part and
2-lights on each side of entrance and gilded transom to top. Depressed
ogee arch to each light and Perp tracery. Externally the Perp 4-lights E
window has carved spandrels and moulded strings rising in a V up the
gable with descenders and carved stops. Ferramenta to similar windows on
S side of chapel. Clunch dressings repaired in plaster. Angle buttress
and 2 buttresses ending below height of window heads. The gabled S porch
has an outer arch of 2 continuously chamfered orders, stone seats, and
restored medieval roof of one bay. Hollow chamfered stone corbels at
corners, knee-braces and wallposts to chamfered cambered tie-beams
bearing short king-posts with hollow chamfered brace to hollow-chamfered
ridge beam. Chamfered end stopped wallplates and flat rafters. S door of
2 orders continuously moulded. Oak door with moulded battens. W Tower of
2 stages with large angle buttresses. W wall extends to S in a
projecting stair turret carried higher than the embattled parapet. Pole
and vane on top, C14 W window a single trefoil light, rebated for
internal shutter, has early C14 stained glass window of Virgin and
child, the Virgin mostly brown and green, the child draped in red. C14 W
doorway of 2 continuous hollow chamfered orders. Narrow plain lancets to
3 sides high up in ground stage. 2-light quatrefoil headed bell opening
on each side. Openings at 5 levels on W side. Moulded plinth to stair
turret and buttresses but not tower. (VCH (1908)409-10: RCHM (1911)196-7:
Kelly (1914)231: Pevsner (1977)329-30: Morris (1980)56-8).
Listing NGR: TL1925022284
