The '
Church of St Paul
'' in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

in Hertfordshire is the Anglican

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

for the Letchworth Gate area of the town at the top of Pixmore Way. Dating from 1923, with later extensions, it is a 'daughter church' of the nearby Church of All Saints in Willian and comes under the

Diocese of St Albans The Diocese of St Albans forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England and is part of the wider Church of England, in turn part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese is home to more than 1.6 million people and comprises the hi ...

. Built as a 'Victory' church following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the building is the largest

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

in Hertfordshire.

History

When

Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication ''To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in whic ...

set up his first garden city in

in 1903 the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

gave little thought as to the spiritual needs of the citizens of the new town by building a central Anglican place of worship. The site being developed by Howard's First Garden City Ltd. crossed the parish boundaries of three local ancient village churches: St Mary's church, St Nicholas, Norton, and All Saints, Willian. When in 1917 the Revd Montagu Sharpin Swatman was appointed to the living of Willian he wished to set up a church in Letchworth's Pixmore area in the expectation of providing a more accessible church for the people of the new garden city, and to provide spiritual sanctuary from the war. He initially hoped to quickly install a temporary structure. However it became apparent this was not possible as the Church of England did not own land in the new development. Swatman called a meeting at the end of the war in November 1918 to discuss building a permanent church which was attended by 28 people who donated £29 5s. In 1919 the

bought a piece of land bought from the First Garden City Company. Swatman now had a site on which to build a church. It was decided to build a 'Victory Church' a functioning church which would also function as a memorial of the victory at the end of

. The architect Arthur Heron Ryan Tenison (1861-1930) was commissioned to produce a design described by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

as "an ambitious project... A conventional Decorated Gothic style was adopted with flint walls and stone dressings with conventional gothic traceried windows." Tenison's design for the church was accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1921. A Garden City 'Victory' Church Appeal was launched in 1921 which by October had raised £2,000. At this time it was decided that the new church would be called St Paul's. Eventually, through a variety of fund-raising activities £5,000 was raised from the parishioners of Willian as well as the residents of the new garden city. This allowed construction of the new church to begin, with the

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

being laid on 10 October 1923 by the Marchioness of Salisbury. Work on the first section of the building was completed including three and a half bays of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with arcades at the sides. This first section was consecrated by Michael Furse, the

Bishop of St Albans The Bishop of St Albans is the Ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of St Albans in the Province of Canterbury. The bishop is supported in his work by two suffragan bishops, the Bishop of Hertford and the Bishop of Bedford, and three ar ...

on 3 May 1924. A tower was intended but was never built. Church of St Paul Letchworth Tenison

By 1924 the church was becoming too small for its growing congregation and work on an extension began in early 1931, with two further bays being added to the

and adding two single bays on both sides, that on the south to house the organ and that on the north to act as a

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

, with a temporary wall being added in the east. This extension was dedicated on 18 December 1931. The baptismal font was found in pieces in a builder's yard in 1934 having been removed from St Albans Abbey, where it had been installed in 1853. The font was obtained for the price of transporting it to St Paul's where it was installed and dedicated to the memory of the late Mrs Evelyn Swatman. By 1938 the church needed to be extended again, and an appeal was launched to raise the required £1,000; this sum was reached by 1940 and the north aisle was finished, a vestibule built and the roofing of the nave completed. In 1958 a Church Hall was built at 179 Pixmore Way, immediately west of the church. St Paul's Church remained a chapel of ease within the ecclesiastical parish of Willian until 17 January 1963, when a new ecclesiastical parish of "Saint Paul, Letchworth" was created. On 8 June 1977 the two ecclesiastical parishes of Willian and Letchworth St Paul were brought under a united benefice, allowing them to be served by the same clergy whilst remaining separate ecclesiastical parishes. In 1989 the church was reordered, turning the seating around from facing the east to facing the west. At about the same time a new smaller

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

was installed and new communion rails fitted. The pulpit was boarded in and the baptismal font moved to the northeast corner of the church. In August 2015 windows at the church and those at St Mary's church in Hitchin were smashed in what police called a "religiously motivated attack." A local man was charged with the attack. In February 2022 the boarded in pulpit was removed.

References

External links

Church of St Paul, Letchworth Parish WebsiteSt Paul's, Letchworth
on the

Heritage Foundation website
St Paul's on the Hertfordshire Churches in Photographs website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Paul, Letchworth

Letchworth Buildings and structures in Letchworth