Islington: St Paul
Diocese of London
Closed Church, 623119
This church is on the Heritage at Risk Register (verified 2025-11-06)
View more information about this church on the Heritage at Risk website
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 326 847
he church was built in 1826-8 to the designs of Sir Charles Barry. The foundation stone was laid on 15 September 1826 and the church was consecrated by Bishop Blomfield on 23 October 1828 cost £11,205, and the site was given by the Marquis of Northampton.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave of six bays (including the chancel which is formed within the east bay), five with aisles and clerestory but the westernmost without aisles. Stairs to the galleries which surround the interior are contrived within short projections at each end of the aisles, and the tower stands, oddly at the east end. It is flanked by two small apsidal vestries which are later additions.
Description of Archaeology and History
The church was built in 1826-8 to the designs of Sir Charles Barry. The foundation stone was laid on 15 September 1826 and the church was consecrated by Bishop Blomfield on 23 October 1828 cost £11,205, and the site was given by the Marquis of Northampton. The Commissioners contributed £8654. This was one of three churches built at this time in the parish of Islington by Barry, all of which have much the same character and plan . St. John's, Upper Holloway (begun May 1826) has a similar plan, but the tower is in the orthodox position at the west end, and Holy Trinity Cloudesley Square (begun July 1826) has no tower, but two octagonal pinnacles at the west end. Charles Barry (1795-1860), after being articled to a firm of surveyors in Southwark, went on an extended architectural tour of the continent. On his return to London he set up a practice in Ely Place, Holborn, and soon obtained the contract for two churches for the Commissioners outside Manchester. He was not in sympathy with the more extreme Gothic Revivalists, and decried "deep chancels, high rood screens and (in a lesser degree) pillared aisles" as "belonging to the worship and institutions of the past rather than the present". This opinion doubtless co-incided with that of the evangelical Vicar of Islington, The Revd. Daniel Wilson, and may explain the existence of four churches to Barry's designs within the bounds of that parish. Barry's later works in the Italianate style brought him honours and recognition, and he is well known as the collaborator with Pugin on the new Houses of Parliament, 1840-60. He designed about a dozen churches and remodelled a few others.
Exterior Description
The tower was placed in the unusual position at the east end because this was the principal front of the church. The lowest storey contains an open porch, the four-centred arch of which has mouldings which die into plain responds. There are good carvings of roses and foliage in the spandrels. Above, a stone tablet records that the six bells in the tower are a Memorial to the First World War. The ceiling of the porch is groined and in the side walls are doors communicating with stone staircases to the galleries. There is no access to the ground floor of the church. In the next stage there is a three-light window of Perpendicular character under a four-centred arch, and the third stage houses the clock with a circular face in the east wall under a moulded label. The uppermost stage houses the bells and has two-light louvred openings in each direction, a moulding below the parapet which is decorated with fleurons and battlements between the corner pinnacles. These are set diagonally at the heads of diagonal buttresses rising from the ground with several set-offs.
The aisle walls are divided into bays by buttresses with two off-sets, between which are tall two-light windows with transoms and cinquefoiled heads under moulded hoods. At the base of all the walls is a moulded plinth. The clerestory also has two-light windows with cinquefoiled heads, and both aisles and clerestory have moulded parapets without battlements. At each end of the aisles (except the north west) are small bays housing staircases, with doors at the foot and small lancet windows. At the east end of the church, flanking the tower, are two vestries terminating in apses, which were added in 1900.
The west end of the church, which appears at first sight to be a shallow chancel, has no windows in the side walls (which extend one bay further than the aisles) and in the west wall is a doorway, with a large three-light transomed window with panel tracery above. There are angle buttresses at the corners which rise into substantial stone pinnacles above the parapet. At the west end of the south aisle there is a strange polygonal projection above the staircase which may have contained a stair to an upper west gallery. In the apex of the west gable there is a small quatrefoil opening to the roof space, and the gable is capped by a cross.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1944
The figure of St. Paul in the east window, 1944 by John Hall and Son
Stained Glass
1504
A small roundel of St. George.
Interior
Interior Description
The interior has tall, dignified arches of Perpendicular character with attached shafts in the principal directions (except towards the aisles) and hollows between. The moulded arches have no hoods or decorative carving, and an upper series of shafts supports the roof. This is of low pitch with tie-beams supported by four-centred arch braces with tracery in the spandrels. The clerestory windows have shields within squared quatrefoils between the base of the glazing and the inner sills. There are galleries in the aisles, and the west gallery occupies two bays, the further west being without aisles and housing small rooms at ground floor level on each side of the porch. The gallery fronts have also been renewed, and now are of pine with pierced panels. The floor is paved with stone flags in the alleys and the pews stand on timber platforms. The seating was re-arranged in 1880, when choirstalls were placed in the eastern bay of the nave and new open pews were provided throughout the ground floor of the church. The pulpit was also moved. In 1882 a new pulpit was erected, and in 1900 the organ was moved from the west gallery to the east bay of the south aisle.
The arrangement of the east end is uncommon, because of the position of the tower. Behind the altar there is a reredos of stone Perpendicular niches, and above that a parapet screens the lower part of a chamber in the first stage of the tower, opening to the church through a tall tower arch which allows a view of the east window. The glass in the east window is a post-War replacement of the original, which contained the arms of George IV. The second stage of the tower has a groined vault with a square bellway set lozenge-wise in the middle, like the roof of the porch below.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
c.1950
The altar is a plain wooden table of oak with three open panels along the front.
Reredos
The reredos is of composite stone. In the recess was originally placed the altar, the two succeeding divisions are niches, and the outer two had panels painted with the Ten Commandments (now covered by diaper). There is a small stone screen above the reredos with five panels painted with the arms of Westminster Abbey, St. Peter, the See of Canterbury and The Sec of London.
Pulpit
1882
The pulpit is of stained pine, a tall octagonal structure eight steps above the level of the chancel floor, with open traceried panels round the body.
Lectern
1906
The lectern is a brass eagle.
Font (object)
c.1880
The font is of granite, with an octagonal bowl on a stout cylindrical drum.
Organ (object)
1828
The organ was originally built by Timothy Russell, 1828, improved by Willis.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 326 847
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Sources
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