Church Heritage Record 622091

Nave with chancel. Porches at north-west and south-west corners (north-west is blocked). Three transept-like projections. Crossing tower over central transept. Chancel with north organ chamber and vestries and south chapel. Boiler room beneath north-west corner.

142 ft 3” x 57 ft 3”. Tower 108 ft tall.

The only other record in proximity of the church is the Grade II listed house opposite the west elevation which dates to the C18th.

There is no known archaeological potential, but there are some burials along the north side of the church.

The area of and around Stoneycroft grew in residential and industry with Victorian expansion.

St Paul’s was designed by the nationally significant architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960), famous for Liverpool Cathedral, Battersea Power Station and the K2 telephone box amongst other designs. The church was built as a replacement for another that had previously stood on a different site.

The original St Paul’s, built in a Grecian style, was designed by T Lightoler and consecrated in 1769. Decline in church attendance and the building fabric was reported in 1884 and the church was closed in the early C20th, and subsequently demolished in 1931 and the site sold.

Sir Gilbert Scott was asked to design a new church, presumably as a result of his work on Liverpool Cathedral, and construction took place 1913–16, unusually overlapping with the outbreak and early years of WWI . The construction, by Morrison’s of Wavertree, cost £11,000 which was met by Howard Douglas Horsfall, who was from a family of Liverpool builders. The walls were filled with concrete for strength.

Scott had won the commission to design a new Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool in 1903, though his first church was only completed in Bournemouth in 1906. In 1910 Scott replaced twin towers in his design for a central tower buttressed by four transepts – akin to the final design of St Paul’s. The cathedral continued to undergo changes in design and the construction of several churches, including this at Stoneycroft, are thought to have influenced the completed cathedral design.

The church has had to under go several major restorations, in 1955, 1972 and a 4 phase restoration programme supported by English Heritage beginning in 1998 to address water ingress issues.

A monumental building with short central square tower (with  twin louvred openings on each side) and pyramidal tiled roof. South-east stair turret. Large expanses of plain brick wall. Austere in appearance.

The west end is gabled with 3 tall lancets with brick mullions beneath a blank arch, and a carved figure above. 3 transeptal projections with half-hipped gables and similar 3-light window formations extend along the north and south elevations, connected by flat roofed low-rise passages. At the west end these form north and south porches with pointed arched openings and gates across. That to the north is blocked. The east wall is close to the boundary wall and therefore difficult to inspect.

Some skylights above the eaves lighting the roof spaces.

Access is through the south-west corner. The interior is a vast, plain space, with little adornment but impressive through its austerity. The nave is of one level and retains its original suspended light fittings. Plain plastered wall surfaces, with exposed brick forming accents. The west wall is panelled in oak. Panelling from other walls has been removed due to the issues with moisture ingress in the building.

The interior is formed of 3 high square groin-vaulted bays (linked by shallow pointed tunnel vaults) which form each crossing, marked by exposed brick ribs. Shallow pointed tunnel vaults branch off to the north and south of each groin-vaulted bay, which in turn are connected laterally by low, groin-vaulted chambers with rose windows piercing the outer walls. Lateral arches separate each bay. Each of these ‘chambers’ can be accessed from the nave beneath arched opening in the base of the tunnel vaulted sections. Massive plain square piers support the vaults and separate the nave from these narrow aisle passages.

The westernmost bay is beneath a tunnel vaulted section, as is the sanctuary at the far east end. The chancel is beneath one of the groin vaults and is separated from the nave by a low wall. It is raised by 5 steps which rise in the centre of the wall between ornate iron gates with angels positioned at either side. Integrated within the walls are the pulpit and lectern, marked out in contrasting tracery. The organ chamber is to the north of the chancel beyond choir stalls, with the organ raised on a balcony above. Vestries lie beyond it. Access from the vestry can be gained up to the organ chamber and on up to the crossing tower via cathedral like walkways over the vaults, reiterating the scale of the building and the sense that this was a model for the cathedral. A wooden staircase wraps around the walls of the tower emphasising its scale.

The Sanctuary rises by another step, and the altar is raised on 3 more. Over and behind the altar is a curtain.