St Paul's Church, Skelmersdale

St Paul's Church
St Paul's Church Location in Skelmersdale Show map of Skelmersdale St Paul's Church Location in West Lancashire Show map of the Borough of West Lancashire
53.5500°N 2.7924°W / 53.5500; -2.7924
OS grid reference	SD 476,062
Location	Church Road, Skelmersdale, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Paul, Skelmersdale
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	1776
Dedication	Saint Paul
Consecrated	18 December 1906
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	25 June 1973
Architect(s)	Austin and Paley
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1903
Completed	1906
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, tiled roofs
Administration
Province	York
Diocese	Liverpool
Archdeaconry	Warrington
Deanery	Ormskirk
Parish	St Paul, Skelmersdale
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd Christopher Spittle
Curate(s)	Revd Jack Shepherd

St Paul's Church is in Church Road, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Ormskirk, the archdeaconry of Warrington, and the diocese of Liverpool.^[1] The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[2]

History

A chapel was first built in Skelmersdale in 1776 as a chapel of ease to St Peter and St Paul, Ormskirk. It was enlarged in 1823 and again in 1850. In 1856 it became a parish church in its own right, and was dedicated to Saint Paul. Later in the 19th century the chapel was damaged by subsidence due to coal mining. The present church was built on different site nearby.^[3] Its foundation stone was laid in July 1903, and the church was consecrated on 18 December 1906 by the Rt Revd Francis Chavasse, bishop of Liverpool.^[4] It was designed by the Lancaster architects Austin and Paley, and provided seating for 575 people.^[5] The plan was to add a tower on the north side of the chancel, but this was never built.^[6]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a red tiled roof.^[2] Its architectural style is free Perpendicular.^[6] The plan consists of a five-bay nave with a clerestory, a west canted baptistry, north and south aisles, and a chancel, with the base of the projected tower to the north, and a vestry to the south. The clerestory windows have arched heads and contain rounded tracery. The windows along the sides of the aisles are flat-headed, and also contain rounded tracery. At the west end of the church buttresses flank the baptistry, above which is an arched four-light window. On the tower base is a pyramidal roof.^[2]

Interior

Inside the church the arcades are carried on octagonal piers. Below the clerestory windows is a continuous impost with a raised carved inscription in Latin.^[2] The east window contains stained glass by Shrigley and Hunt.^[6] The two-manual pipe organ was built by Rushworth and Dreaper.^[7]

External features

The churchyard contains the war graves of three service personnel of World War I, and seven of World War II.^[8]

See also

• Listed buildings in Skelmersdale
• List of ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1895–1914)

References

1. St Paul, Skelmersdale, Church of England, retrieved 26 March 2012
2. Historic England, "Church of Paul, Skelmersdale (1291741)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 26 March 2012
3. Parish of Skelmersdale, Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks, retrieved 26 March 2012
4. The Building, St Paul's, Skelmersdale, retrieved 26 March 2012
5. Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, p. 245, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
6. Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 589, ISBN 0-300-10910-5
7. "NPOR [N10949]", National Pipe Organ Register, British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 2 July 2020
8. SKELMERSDALE (ST. PAUL) CHURCHYARD, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 17 February 2013