St Paul's is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

church at Queen Caroline Street,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...

, London W6, adjacent to Hammersmith flyover, and only a short walk from Hammersmith tube station.

History

The original church

The church dates back to the 17th century. The 2nd Earl of Mulgrave purchased the land in 1629, and the main contributor to the building fund (£700) was the wealthy merchant Sir Nicholas Crispe, who had lived since 1625 in a house on the riverside in Hammersmith. The foundation stone was laid on 11 March 1630, and the chapel of ease was consecrated by

Archbishop Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 16 ...

on 7 June 1631.

The present church

Hammersmith was developing rapidly, helped by the arrival of the new

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

. At a public meeting held on 20 January 1880, the decision was taken to rebuild the church on the same site. It was felt that the building was no longer big enough to accommodate the growing population and 'The old unsightly structure is not worthy of being the chief witness to God in the midst of such an important Metropolitan Suburb as Hammersmith has now become.' In July 1882 the Duke of Albany laid the foundation stone, and the nave of the new church was consecrated on 13 October 1883. The architects were J. P. Seddon and H. R. Gough. Like

St Peter's Church St. Peter's Church, Old St. Peter's Church, or other variations may refer to: * St. Peter's Basilica in Rome Australia * St Peter's, Eastern Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia * St Peters Church, St Peters, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ...

in Hammersmith, St Paul's lost a significant portion of its land, including that with graves, when Hammersmith Flyover and the Great West Road were built in 1957–61.
Hammersmith Chess Club
briefly used the Church Hall as their home venue from 1970 to 1975, before later moving on to Blythe House. In 1983, the church pews were removed and replaced with more flexible seating. In the 2000s, an extension was built onto the western end of the church, incorporating a new hall and kitchen, and accompanied by a major restoration programme. The work was done by Bryen & Langley and the extension was opened in 2011. The church has strong ties with the nearby

Latymer Upper School (Slowly Therefore Surely) , established = , closed = , sister_school = Godolphin and Latymer School , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , head_label = H ...

, which gathers at the church on its Founder's Day each year.

Exterior

The church is designed in the

Early English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...

Style, with

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet ...

s, powerful

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es, a high roof and an imposing tower.

Interior

The internal dimensions of St Paul's Church are: length 190 ft (57.9m), width 73 ft (22.25 m), height 63 ft (19.2m). It was designed to seat 1,400 people. The walls are of brown Ancaster stone, with Belgian marble used for the clustered columns and wall-linings. There are six bays, formed by the five main columns on each side, with white and blue

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...

used for the arches and some carved decoration. The most interesting feature inside the church is a bust of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

, sculpted by

Hubert Le Sueur Hubert Le Sueur (c. 1580 – 1658) was a French sculptor with the contemporaneous reputation of having trained in Giambologna's Florentine workshop. He assisted Giambologna's foreman, Pietro Tacca, in Paris, in finishing and erecting the equestria ...

and erected by Sir Nicholas Crispe. After the King's execution in 1649, the heart of Crispe, enclosed in a small urn, was placed below this monument. The inscription on the urn reads: In 1898 his body and heart were both moved to a new tomb. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...

came from the former church of All-Hallows-the-Great in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. There is also a memorial to

William Tierney Clark William Tierney Clark FRS FRAS (23 August 1783 – 22 September 1852) was an English civil engineer particularly associated with the design and construction of bridges. He was among the earliest designers of suspension bridges. Born in B ...

, designer of the first

Hammersmith Bridge Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the River Thames in west London. It links the southern part of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, on the north side of the river, and Barnes in the London Borough ...

, in the church. The stained glass windows of the church were made by

Clayton and Bell Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832 ...

. Those on the north side depict the life of

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, the apostle of the Church; while those on the south side depict the life of

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

, the other apostle who is usually paired with Paul.

Burials

* Sir Nicholas Crispe, merchant *

Samuel Morland Sir Samuel Morland, 1st Baronet (1625 – 30 December 1695), or Moreland, was an English academic, diplomat, spy, inventor and mathematician of the 17th century, a polymath credited with early developments in relation to computing, hydraulics a ...

, inventor * Richard Honey, carpenter, and George Francis, bricklayer, both killed by troops during the funeral procession of Queen

Caroline of Brunswick Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; 17 May 1768 – 7 August 1821) was Queen of the United Kingdom and Hanover from 29 January 1820 until her death in 1821, being the estranged wife of King George IV. She was Pri ...

in 1821.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Paul's, Hammersmith

Churches completed in 1631 Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom Churches completed in 1891 19th-century Church of England church buildings Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Grade II* listed churches in London Grade II* listed government buildings Diocese of London Hammersmith History of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham 1631 establishments in England Holy Trinity Brompton plants