St Paul and St Stephen Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church located in Stroud Road,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, Gloucestershire. St Paul church was built between 1882 and 1883. St Stephen church was built between 1898 and 1900. St Stephen church was closed in 2010 and the church was merged with St Paul's which became St Paul and St Stephen church. Closely associated with the church is St Paul's Church of England Primary school located in New Street, Gloucester which opened in 1870.

History

St Paul

The building was constructed in 1882 by Alfred King with Capel Tripp being the architect. The church was consecrated for use on 11 October 1883 by the

Bishop of Gloucester The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester, England, Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Gloucestershire, County of Gloucestershire and part ...

. It was built to serve the expanding population but also as a memorial to

Robert Raikes Robert Raikes ("the Younger") (14 September 1735 – 5 April 1811) was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman. He was educated at The Crypt School in Gloucester. He was noted for his promotion of Sunday schools. Family Raikes was born ...

on the 100th anniversary of the 1780 Sunday school movement. It was funded by a grant from the Incorporated Church Building Society and donations including a large gift from D.H.D Burr. In total around £6,500 was raised, although this was enough to complete the church two parts of the original design were not fully built including the nave which was stopped two bays short and the tower which was partially built and roofed over to provide a porch. However, even though the original design was not completed the church was still a large building with room for around 600 people in the nave mostly seated on benches. Originally the building was called the Raikes Memorial Church but it was renamed to St Paul's after an unsuccessful appeal to Sunday schools to contribute funds for the construction of the building. The font was also present around 1883 and was given by the

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

Edward Scobell of Gloucester. In 1884, the parish of St Paul's was formed and the church was officially endowed. A house built opposite the church on the Stroud Road in 1884 became the vicarage. The organ was donated at this time by the first vicar Reverend. W.H.S Davies, it is positioned at the south-east end of the building. In 1885, the north part of

Tuffley Tuffley is a suburb in the city of Gloucester in Gloucestershire, England. The ward is unparished and situated near Robinswood Hill. Origins Tuffley is a suburb of Gloucester, in the county of Gloucestershire. Recorded as Tuffley, Tufley, Tuf ...

was added to the parish. In 1888, a parish room was built in Tredworth Road, next to Tredworth School, this is now the

New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church of the Catholic Apostolic Church, Irvingian tradition. Its origins are in 1863, in the split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during a schism in Hamburg, Ger ...

. Between 1912 and 1915, the east end of the church was refurbished with a new

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

and oak wood paneling. In 1914, the space to the north of the altar was fitted out as a

lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...

and in 1919, a

World War One World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...

memorial was constructed outside the main entrance of the church, It was dedicated before a crowd of 3,000 people. in 1920, an altar for the chapel was added. A second north

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

was built in 1931. Between 1938 and 1939, the west end of the church was completed and the east side restored to designs by W. E. Ellery Anderson this was paid for by a

bequest A devise is the act of giving real property by will, traditionally referring to real property. A bequest is the act of giving property by will, usually referring to personal property. Today, the two words are often used interchangeably due to thei ...

of Sarah Critchley, and completed the original design envisaged by Capel Tripp. Specifically, the nave and aisles were extended westwards, a porch was added to the west, and a stone gallery was built in the nave. Also at this time, the east stained glass window was installed. In 1952, a new vicarage was purchased along Kings Edwards Avenue which replaced the original vicarage opposite the church. Another refurbishment in the 1980s, saw the west end of the nave converted into a hall, kitchen, meeting room and toilets. The main altar was replaced with a new contemporary altar. The First World War memorial was listed as a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 2014.

St Stephen

In 1895, there was an appeal for a new church to be built in the parish of St Luke. The existing Church of St. Luke in High Orchard, was to be kept as a mission church. In 1896, difficulties in raising the £6,000 needed to build the church were encountered due to a

smallpox epidemic Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus ''Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO ...

and the outbreak of the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

. As a result of this the church had to be built in sections. The Reverend H. Proctor of St Luke's purchased land at the south end of the parish on the corner of Bristol Road and Linden Road for the new building. On 24 October 1898, the first foundation stone was placed by Lady Darell. By 1900, the first section had been built which included the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fi ...

and three 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 ...

. This was consecrated for use on 18 October 1900 by Bishop Elliot. At this time, the church was called St Luke the Less. In 1909, the parish of St Luke was divided with St Luke the Less becoming its own parish. The vicarage house for St Luke's was given to the new parish. In 1926, the Reverend E. C. Pritchard was appointed and started fundraising to complete the church building. By 1928, another £6,000 had been raised including a grant of £3,600 from the Bishop's appeal fund. The work was carried out between 1928 and 1930 to a design made by H. A. Dancey. The aisles and nave were extended westwards by two bays, and the west front of the building was added and included a

bell-cot A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

, two porches and a

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

. Upon completion of this work the

Duchess of Beaufort Duchess of Beaufort is a title held by the wife of the Duke of Beaufort in the Peerage of England. In 1657 Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester married Mary Capell and in 1682 the dukedom was created by Charles II, making Henry the first D ...

unveiled a stone recording the completion of the building and the church was rededicated to St Stephen, however the parish remained as St Luke the Less. In 1935, the original church of St Luke was demolished. In 2010, St Stephen church was merged with St Paul church where all services are now held. There is a memorial on the rear wall of the church to workers of the Morelands Match Factory who died during World War One. This was originally attached to the wall of the factory itself however it was closed in 1975.

Architecture

St Paul

The church is built 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 a ...

style with

lancet windows A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

and pointed arches in the nave. It is built in limestone and consists of a sanctuary at the east end, two north vestries, an undivided aisled and clerestoried chancel and nave with east

, the first stage of a south tower, a west porch, and short outer aisles. There is a pointed high arch at the east end of the church. The font is a round stone bowl on eight marble shafts. The First World War memorial in the churchyard consists of an octagonal stone

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, accesse ...

set on a plinth. It is open to the rear and

corbelled In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

to the front. There is a timber crucifix on top, with a bronze figure of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

St Stephen

The church is built of brick and stone dressings in the late

Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

. It originally consisted of a chancel with north vestry rooms, an

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

chamber, a south chapel and an aisled and clerestoried nave. Later, a bell-cot, two porches and a polygonal baptistery were added.

References

External links

The Church of St Paul and St Stephen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Paul and Saint Stephens Church Gloucester Church of England church buildings in Gloucester 1882 establishments in England 1900 establishments in England Churches completed in 1882 Churches completed in 1900 Former churches in Gloucestershire Diocese of Gloucester Bristol Road