Description

WEYMOUTH

SY6779SW ABBOTSBURY ROAD
873-1/19/3 (North side)
14/06/74 Church of St Paul

II

Anglican parish church. Dated 1894 (foundation stone). By GH
Fellowes-Prynne, at a cost of »5,267; chapel extension dated
1903. Squared and snecked rock-faced masonry with limestone
dressings, on a continuous plinth, bright red tile roofs.
PLAN: nave with W baptistery, aisles under swept-down main
roof, S porch, double-gabled S transept, apsidal S chapel,
chancel, organ gallery and vestries; the main ridge has a
twin-gabled bellcote.
EXTERIOR: the detail is Decorated or Perpendicular, but with
Art Nouveau overtones, particularly in the tracery and
cusping. The coped W gable with terminal cross and kneelers
has a 4-light window above the apsidal baptistery, with hipped
roof behind a high coped parapet, and 7 cusped lancets. There
are square buttresses to the nave and diagonals to the aisles,
with 3-light W windows. The aisles have 1 and 2-light windows
to square heads; the S side has a gabled porch with paired
plank gates to grillage upper panels, and small quatrefoil
side lights, to the left a single light, and to the right
2+2+1-lights.
The transept has coped gables above 4-light windows, and a
plank door on the W side; to the right is the lower apsidal
chapel with 5 cusped lancets; there is a flush foundation
stone panel dated 29 April 1903, at the E end. At the junction
between nave and chancel is the bellcote, and a raised coped
gable with heavy haunched gablets, on S and N sides.
The chancel has 3 lights set high, and the lofty E gable, with
coping and terminal cross, over a 5-light window with label
and stops; below the glazed section is stone panelling with 5
plain shields. Diagonal corner buttresses, and a central squat
buttress with commemorative stone, on which the inscription
includes: 'Laid May 9th 1984 by Alice Countess Hoyes/ Rev
Sydney Lambert, Priest/ HG Fellowes-Prynne, Architect/ Cephas
Foad, Builder .....'.
To the right are 2 later flat-roofed extensions, and the high
gabled organ loft and vestry. The N aisle has 7 bays, with
square buttresses.
INTERIOR: plain plastered and painted walls. The 4-bay nave
has broad pointed moulded arches on octagonal piers with high
bases and crenellated caps, with a small extra pointed opening
each side at the W end. The trussed rafter roof with

embellished plate has light arch-bracing to the bays, on
attached shafts and corbels. The aisles have lean-to roofs,
hipped at the W end, and windows in deep embrasures to flat
segmental rere-arches. The inner porch doors are plain plank,
under a segmental head. Floors are in plain clay tiles, with
wood block in the seating areas.
At the nave W end is a broad flat 4-centred arch on splayed
and stopped jambs opening to the baptistery with joist ceiling
and mosaic floor; the single lancets are in deep embrasures.
At the E end of the N aisle is a 'flying' half arch to the
organ chamber, and a similar arch gives to the S transept,
which has a deep valley beam, continued across to one of the
nave piers with a traceried section. The chapel has a rafter
roof with flat central section and short canted sides. The
chancel, on 4+2 steps, has a low stone screen with
wrought-iron gates and cresting, and 'Minton' tiled floors.
The roof structure is as in the nave. There are 3 lights set
high each side of the sanctuary, which is on a further 3
steps, with a fine carved and gilded reredos flanked by
panelling. To the S are 3 narrow arches, on paired round
columns, to the chapel, and to the N is a wide segmental arch
over the organ.
FITTINGS: carved wood pulpit on a stone base, brass eagle
lectern, simple turned baluster altar rail, limestone
octagonal font on quatri-lobed base; the bowl has sunk panels
with figures or leaves in Art Nouveau style.
STAINED GLASS: the E window is a 'King of Kings', and the W
depicts the Ascension. The S chapel and baptistery have a
series of saints, and the S aisle windows contain coloured
glass, but not the transept of N aisle, where the glazing has
Art Nouveau leading.
An idiosyncratic but convincing design, well maintained, built
for an area being rapidly expanded at the turn of the century.
(Buildings of England: Newman J & Pevsner N: Dorset: London:
1972-: 452).

Listing NGR: SY6720379239

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Paul at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26599841

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

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)