Description

SP 0687 SW, 28/16; SP 0687 SE 29/36

ST PAUL'S SQUARE,
Hockley B3,
Church of St Paul

25.04.52

GV

I

1776-79 by Roger Eykyn of Wolverhampton, master joiner, nurseryman, surveyor
and architect. A much simplified version St Martin's-in-the-Fields, without
a portico. Eykyn's intended steeple was never completed above the square
tower base and the existing belfry and spire are an addition by Frances Goodwin
of 1822-23. Eykyn's original design was apparently the subject of amendments
by Samuel Wyatt on consultation with the Trustees.

Rectangular plan with
five bay sides, the shallow chancel simply extending the nave and the west
end distinguished by the slight recession of the porch/vestries flanking the
tower, the central entrance bay of the west front being slightly advanced
in turn with a modest pediment in front of the stepped plinth of the tower.
Ashlar walls with rusticated quoins, bracket course and blocking course.
Hipped slate roof. Two tiers of windows to sides, tall and round-arched to
galleries, squat and segmental-arched below, similar fenestration to west
front, all in Gibbs surrounds. Venetian east window. Gibbs surrounds to
west door, with cornice on consoles, and to north and south porch/vesting
doors with pediments.

INTERIOR has galleries on three sides supported on square
piers from which rise Ionic columns capped by sections of entablature bearing
the cross vaulting of the aisles and the elliptical band vault of the nave.
The organ has been removed from the west gallery to the east bay of the north
gallery. In 1785 Francis Eginton was commissioned to paint the east window
showing three scenes from the life of St Paul after Benjamin West, completed in
1791. The architectural framework of the window with inner Ionic columns
and flanking Ionic pilasters, delicate plasterwork above with oval panels
and crowning pediment, may be due to Samuel Wyatt who was once again consulted
by the Trustees on the design. Virtually all the fittings are late C18,
retaining box pews, those at the back of the nave set in coved recesses.
Several wall tablets by Williams Hollins. The south-east aisle window is
designed as a memorial to William Hollins, sculptor and architect, and his
family, with delicately sculpted marble reveals and a fine bust of William
on the right hand side, all executed in 1843 by his son Peter Hollins.
Francis Goodwin's steeple of 1822-23, raised on the base of Eykyn's tower,
is a Grecian design: an irregular octagonal belfry with an Ionic column recessed
to each short side supporting the entablature with balustraded parapet, octagonal
lantern and slender stone spire of same form rising above with classical decoration
applied as if to a normal wall, carved finial. The church stands in a spacious
churchyard/square thought not orientated on a main axis.

Listing NGR: SP0648987475

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Paul's Church at Wikipedia
• St Paul's Church official website
• Wikidata Q915614

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings